With a global workforce exceeding 55,000 individuals representing over 80 nations, adidas Group stands as a revered icon in the realm of sports brands. The company boasts a diverse portfolio encompassing renowned labels such as adidas and TaylorMade. Distinguishing itself through a comprehensive omnichannel go-to-market strategy, adidas Group navigates the retail landscape with a triad approach, leveraging retail distribution, e-commerce and corporate-owned retail stores.
Like any retail enterprise, the challenge of shrink—the industry term referring to theft, inventory mismanagement and pilferage—looms large, warranting the establishment of a dedicated department at adidas Group to mitigate its impact on revenues.
The loss of inventory to shrinkage translates directly into diminished profits with causes ranging from shoplifting and vendor fraud to employee theft and administrative errors. At the helm of this endeavor for adidas Group is the Profit Protection department, which diligently works to safeguard the company's bottom line.
For brick-and-mortar retailers, the repercussions of inventory loss due to employee theft and shoplifting are all too familiar, eroding profit margins. For businesses operating across multiple channels, the complexity intensifies. The surge in e-commerce platforms introduces new risks, particularly concerning counterfeit and grey market products.
Recognizing these challenges, adidas Group sought the expertise of Kroll’s Risk Intelligence software, Resolver, to address its profit protection needs. The goal was not only to combat traditional issues such as employee theft but also to navigate the evolving landscape of eCommerce, emphasizing data standardization, transparency in reporting and cross-functional integration. This collaboration aimed to fortify the brand against various threats while ensuring a streamlined and resilient approach to profit protection.
Before adopting the Resolver software, adidas Group’s Profit Protection team grappled with a convoluted incident tracking system, relying on numerous disconnected tools. The turning point came when its U.S. counterparts experienced remarkable success with Resolver over several years, prompting the global adoption of the solution.
Resolver emerged as the ideal choice for revolutionizing adidas' approach to security risk management, offering a multifaceted solution that addressed the intricate issue of shrinkage.
The software provided the data centralization, visualization and reporting capabilities for the team to more effectively manage incidents, which ranged from in-store shoplifting to intricate cases like employee theft of sneaker designs, across adidas' expansive network of 3,200+ global stores.
The benefits of Resolver's implementation include:
adidas Group seamlessly integrated shrink data, derived from their store data analysis tools, with incident reports to launch investigations through Resolver. Tracking approximately 600 incidents annually within Resolver's software, this number is poised to surge as the solution extends its reach across a broader user landscape within adidas Group. These incident reports played a pivotal role in supporting Profit Protection functions, spanning everything from in-store shoplifting to instances of employees stealing intellectual property such as sneaker designs. Resolver served as the central platform for documenting these events in a central system, improving the investigative processes.
The implementation of Resolver software marked a transformative chapter for adidas Group’s Profit Protection team, fostering enhanced transparency. This transformation translates into more timely reports across all markets, providing senior management with a comprehensive overview of trends and the specific impact of various incidents on the organization. The adoption of Resolver not only streamlined investigative efforts but also equipped adidas Group with a valuable tool that increased visibility across its operational landscape.
Ultimately, Resolver distinguished itself through its unique capability to offer a holistic, user-friendly and real-time solution tailored to meet adidas' global profit protection requirements. The software addressed the immediate needs of adidas and provided technology solutions for broader objectives such as data standardization, transparency and cross-functional communication. Resolver served as the catalyst for elevating adidas' security maturity, initiating the journey with Incident Management and seamlessly progressing into Kroll’s comprehensive Risk Management software.
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