Case Study: Internet Monitoring

Consumer Goods client gets 150,000 internet sites tracked;

BRAND ABUSE IDENTIFIED

A major international distributor of precision watches and other jewelry suspected that the Internet was negatively impacting revenues in the United States. They believed that legitimate products were being diverted from authorized distributors to online discounters. The client has an established dealer network with explicit terms and conditions that prohibits diversion. Still, legitimate products were regularly appearing online on different websites that were not part of their network.

The Challenge

A quick assessment confirmed that the problem was significant. The clients brand appeared on nearly 150,000 sites and products were sold on some 145 sites, even though there were only 10 sellers authorized to offer products online. The majority of the sites were not authorized distributors.

Worse still, even legitimate retailers had compliance issues. Improperly advertised goods were bundled with down market products, further eroding the premium price point and reducing brand value. A number of authorized distributors were also complaining that they were losing sales to e-tailers.

The client recognized the complexity of organizing a project to analyze all the potential instances of abuse. A requirement was the involvement of internal and external stakeholders, such as legal and marketing departments, and all within a focused budget. Uniquely situated to undertake this, PeopleForce recognized that the program must begin by identifying the scope of the problem and then provide prioritized management of cases, surveillance that would track the product through the network, and finally a feedback loop to keep the barn door closed.

People Forces patented approach to research and analysis, and ability through our on-line distributed workforce to physically check tens of thousands of sites in a short time frame, enabled us to create a sample of the sites and to confirm quickly that inappropriate discounting represented better than 50% of the products listed. Further research into those sites identified several that had the hallmarks fraud.

Developing Online Brand Management

PeopleForce developed and conducted an audit that identified legal names and addresses of the retailers. We identified whether a site was simply an information-sharing site, referred customers to retailers, or sold products.

The client is currently working with one of our channel partners to create a marker that will enable the successful tracking of the product throughout the channel. Secret shoppers from PeopleForces workforce will purchase product and they will be examined to determine where and when they entered the network.

For companies that most blatantly flouted distributor rules, appropriate legal action has been initiated.

As a result of PeopleForces research and consultation, the distributor has initiated one of the first proactive, systematic campaigns in the industry to combat the damage already done, and to protect their business in the future. Anticipating the avoidance of millions in losses, they will continue to avail themselves of our benefits.