Ecommerce has become an important channel for achieving sales targets in today’s business landscape. Brand teams embrace various ecommerce marketing technology (martech) tools to reach these goals. Recent research by WebFX reveals that 58% of business leaders plan to implement a martech stack in 2024. This shift underscores the pivotal role of technology in modern day brand organizations.
In this era of digital-first business growth, a well-defined strategy is imperative for ecommerce success. A crucial component of this strategy is investing in brand protection tools.
But what exactly does brand protection entail?
In essence, it’s the comprehensive process individuals or organizations employ to thwart or eradicate the unauthorized, suspected illegal, use of their intellectual property (IP).
In this article, we’ll delve into how brand protection can help ecommerce marketers, brand managers, business leaders, and legal teams safeguard their products and grow a successful business in 2024. We’ll also explore how brand protection solutions can secure revenue growth, increase profits, foster customer trust, and ensure consumer safety in the ever-evolving landscape of digital commerce. Furthermore, we’ll discover how to choose an ecommerce brand protection tool for your business. So, let’s dive right in.
Why Brand Protection Deserves a Spot in Your 2024 Marketing and eCommerce Solutions Budget
When preparing your budget for 2024, it’s essential to consider your revenue targets for the fiscal year and critical aspects of consumer safety. An efficient brand protection solution accomplishes both these objectives seamlessly.
Firstly, it plays a pivotal role in achieving your targets by ensuring unauthorized sellers don’t snatch your sales away, thus securing your immediate revenue streams.
More importantly, it shields your consumers from counterfeiters who make false claims and are non-compliant with a brand’s commercial compliance policies, marketing and selling low-quality, expired, and often unsafe products as genuine originals. This upholds the consumer safety guidelines and protocols of your brand. It also safeguards your business against legal issues from consumers harmed by such inauthentic goods.
For these reasons, incorporating brand protection into your marketing budget for 2024 is not just a wise financial move; it’s an investment for the lasting health and resilience of your business and that of your consumers.
How a Brand Protection Solution Can Help Achieve Your Targets in 2024
Here are some concrete advantages a brand protection solution offers your business to help you achieve your ecommerce sales targets in 2024.
1. Preserving Revenue Streams by Countering Counterfeits and Unauthorized Bad Actors:
According to OECD data, the approximate value of counterfeit and pirated goods skyrocketed from $1 trillion in 2013 to an estimated $3 trillion in 2022. In 2024, counterfeiters and unauthorized 3Ps will continue to nibble away at your revenues without the shield of brand protection. Investing in a brand protection solution ensures you flag unauthorized sellers on major platforms, including giants like Amazon. This proactive approach helps safeguard your revenue streams, ensuring you can meet your ambitious 2024 targets. To learn more about effectively protecting your brand on Amazon and enhancing your revenue protection strategies, check out our Guide to Trademark Protection on Amazon.
2. Fostering Customer Loyalty for Immediate and Long-Term Sales:
When customers unknowingly purchase non-authentic products masquerading as your originals or policy-infringing products like suspected parallel imports, damaged or materially different items or stolen merchandise, it erodes the trust in your brand.
This erosion can lead to losing loyal and potential long-term customers who could have contributed significantly to your bottom line. Brand protection tools secure immediate revenues by ensuring new and loyal customers only transact with your authentic products. By doing so, you harness the full potential of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and preserve your customer base, thereby boosting both short-term and long-term sales and customer confidence in your brand.
3. Maintaining Profitability Amidst Price Pressure by Unauthorized 3rd Party Sellers
Unauthorized 3P sellers and bad actors have become skilled at selling suspected low-quality, damaged, materially different, parallel imported products at significantly lower prices. This tends to incite a race to the bottom among partner retailers as they struggle to offer competitive prices. If you also operate a first-party sales channel, this pricing pressure can trickle down to your sales, diminishing profitability.
A brand protection solution can help proactively report., initiate verification of inventory and enforce action against unauthorized 3P sellers to mitigate this threat. This ensures a more stable pricing environment with reduced room for damaging price wars. Such a strategic approach can secure your path to achieving healthy profits in 2024. For more insights, check out our article about the Impact of Grey Market Sellers on Margins and Customer Safety.
4. Mitigating Legal Risks and Protecting Brand Reputation:
Implementing a brand protection solution not only shields your brand-building endeavours but also plays a pivotal role in minimizing legal risks stemming from IP misuse. IP infringers have become so skilled that it can be impossible to tell the difference between an original and a counterfeit product today. A disappointed customer who buys such a product could end up entangling your business in a costly legal battle. In fiscal year 2022, False Claims Act settlements and judgments exceeded $2.2 billion in the United States alone. This includes recoveries related to various industries, with a significant portion tied to the healthcare sector. Such legal actions demonstrate the importance of brand protection and the potential risks associated with counterfeit products, especially for businesses that operate in more sensitive industries such as healthcare and medicine.
How to Choose the Right Ecommerce Brand Protection Solution for Your Business
In a market filled with numerous ecommerce brand protection tools, selecting the right one is crucial for your business’s success. These five essential questions will guide you in safeguarding your brand in the digital landscape of 2024.
1. Will this solution fit my business problem?
Begin by leveraging any existing market research within your company to understand your specific brand protection challenges deeply. Identify the nature of the infringers you’re dealing with, assess the scope of their operations, and pinpoint the platforms where they are most active. With this clarity, you can select a solution that precisely addresses your unique problem.
For instance, if you predominantly deal with IP infringers or unauthorized sellers on one or two major ecommerce platforms, there may be no need for elaborate and costly services. Instead, opt for an automated SAAS solution that aligns with your specific requirements while offering the automation necessary to combat the issue effectively.
2. Is this tool efficient, and can it scale globally?
Efficiency is a crucial factor when assessing brand protection solutions. However, sometimes, it might take time to pinpoint what exactly constitutes an efficient brand protection solution. An efficient tool should offer real-time monitoring capabilities to swiftly detect unauthorized sellers, IP infringers, and other types of brand misuse. Look for features like automated alerts, customizable reporting, and swift enforcement mechanisms. A tool that streamlines your brand protection efforts can save time and resources, allowing your team to focus on strategic growth initiatives.
3. What are its success rates?
Before committing to a brand protection tool, inquire about its track record of success—request case studies or references that showcase tangible results achieved by other businesses using the solution. A good brand protection tool will have clear metrics such as enforcement success rate, reduction in monthly non-compliance charges and decrease in number of unauthorized 3rd party sellers. An incredibly impactful tool would have up to an 85% enforcement success rate and a 90% reduction in unauthorized sellers. Choosing a solution with proven metrics of delivering positive outcomes is wise.
4. Does it have industry expertise?
The complexity of brand protection varies across industries, with unique challenges and nuances to consider. Assess whether the brand protection solution possesses industry-specific expertise that aligns with your business’s niche. It might be a good idea to explore the option of a free demonstration of the solution to request relevant examples or case studies for your specific industry.
5. Does it fit the budget?
Budget is an evident and significant consideration when selecting a brand protection solution. Ensuring the tool’s pricing aligns with your budgetary constraints is essential. Equally important is assessing how the solution can optimize return on investment (ROI). Some solutions offer tiered pricing structures or flexible payment options. It’s essential to understand the total cost of ownership, which includes any additional fees or subscription costs. Evaluating budget alignment and ROI potential can empower you to make an informed decision.
The bottom line
Consumers are diligently trimming their expenses in the uncertain economic climate that looms on the horizon. Heightened price sensitivity prevails, tempting customers to opt for lower-cost alternatives. However, the actual cost of these decisions often reveals itself only after the purchase. A compromised product can lead to a disappointing customer experience and, worse, a tarnished brand reputation.
In this challenging climate, investing in brand protection is not merely a wise decision; it’s a strategic imperative. It safeguards your brand’s reputation, ensures that customers receive genuine, high-quality products, and shields your business from the pitfalls of legal entanglements and profit erosion caused by price wars.
As you chart your course through 2024, prioritize brand protection to uphold your brand’s integrity and meet your business targets. In an environment where customer trust is paramount, a commitment of investing in brand protection tool like GreyScout will set your brand apart, positioning it for sustained success in 2024 and beyond.
