Standing Up a Product COE to Reduce Marketing Waste
A marketing team at a sportswear retailer was experiencing product loss, launch leaks, surplus spending, space shortages, and waste when managing pre-launch products for photoshoots, internal product review meetings, and events.
The opportunity
We saw an opportunity to optimize processes, storage, security, scalability, and sustainability practices with a defined marketing product management center of excellence (COE).
How we helped
Aiming to uncover meaningful ways to improve marketing product management and rally a team around solutions, we:
Interviewed individuals playing the role of product manager to understand their responsibilities and pain points
Defined a COE model with job descriptions and leveling to centralize and up level the role of product management in operations
Toured current product storage locations to understand space constraints, security practices, and access controls
Toured best-in-class product management solutions such as ecommerce warehouses, retail stores, and .com photo labs to define the process, space, and technology requirements for an onsite marketing product library
Facilitated workshops to identify the top challenges product operations talent faced when managing product
Mapped current and future state processes from product request to product fulfillment and liquidation
Defined solutions to reduce overspend on product, product loss, or waste with tools that would allow for greater alignment, visibility, and organization of a product library
Identified sustainable solutions to liquidate product such as employee sample sales, recycling into shopping bags, and shredding for alternative uses such as rubber running tracks
Designed a recommendation report and booklet to build a business case for a product management COE across executive leaders
What made a statement
Bringing forth our services in strategy, operations, and change management, we identified a significant amount of cost and space savings that could self fund a COE that in turn recognized and elevated the roles of the operations people managing the marketing product management processes. It was a win for leaders and teams.
