Sales Grew $47M

Cost Savings $84M

Risk Reduction $23M

Ad ROI Saves $38M

The Situation:

A client requested that IMS help them with their already documented marketing programs. Even though the programs were established, the client had no systematic way to measure and scorecard the cost to serve. They had little awareness of the magnitude of the "back-end" variable costs.

We started to help by systematically measuring what the "true" costs currently were and identifying ways to reduce them. IMS developed a systematic process and the metrics for cost to serve. From there we developed internal scorecards and exception alerts for our client, and created scorecards for them to use jointly with their partners. To help sustain the savings, IMS developed an incentive model for teams to be bonused based on the savings they were able to achieve.

Benefits and Results:

•   Price protection reduced 53%


•   Returns handling and scrap reduced 39%


•   Account deductions and exceptions reduced 41%


•   Special shipping, handling costs reduced 23%


•   First year savings of $84 million added to bottom line