Amazon and other online retailers have changed the face of retailing, exposing companies to global complexity, the need to react on a 24/7 timeline, and threats from unauthorized sellers of pirated or reverse-engineered versions of brand-name products. Consumer products companies of all stripes have been discovering that the business processes that once served them well don’t meet the needs of a fast-moving and competitive marketplace. IPM supported one such company—a software multinational—to redesign its business process to optimize brand protection and protect revenue.
A global software company was trying to prevent sales of counterfeit and unauthorized versions of its products on e-commerce and social media platforms, and its brand reputation and revenue were at risk. Its functional and global teams were not aligned, and lack of visibility into and accountability for the full program meant brand protection efforts were not optimized and unable to scale. Business processes were disconnected, and threat response was slow.
IPM’s dedicated program manager led an objective assessment to identify gaps and inefficiencies in existing business processes and uncover solutions. IPM redesigned workflows and created new integrated processes, shifting away from addressing issues as transactional steps, and led implementation of the new workflows and streamlined communications channels. Roles and responsibilities among functional teams, including online protection, investigations, and fraud, were redefined to optimize processes and ensure the right people were doing the right work. Multiple external platform partners in Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe were monitored as well.
The software company restructured its online brand protection program to enhance program effectiveness and scalability. This allowed the expansion of brand protection coverage from 18 countries to 30+ countries, especially in the piracy-prone Latin American and Asian markets. Diligent risk management and scope management successfully turned around the piracy profile (from 50% of products being counterfeit to ~0%) on Amazon, its largest e-commerce marketplace for sales of genuine products.
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