They say it’s not smart to combine friendships and business, but Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer would certainly disagree. They have been refuting this claim ever since March 1969. For Brian, being a science teacher wasn’t an obstacle to team up with Doug who had just finished his summer shaping stint with Fred Pyke (shaping surfboards business). While they were discussing what to do in the following months, Doug popped up a question that was the start of something great. “Do you want to start making surfboards together?” he asked. Since the answer was positive, the adventure of RipCurl could begin.
Little did they know that years later, their search for adventure would perfectly align with the mission behind their brand and become the main slogan – The Search.
RipCurl has been a leader in surfing wetsuits for over 30 years now and their materials are setting the standards for wetsuits in the future. Other than surfing equipment, RipCurl is a revolutionary brand in creating watches and mountain wear. Their vision is maintaining both comfort and style while seeking adventure in outdoor sports.
However, over the years, RipCurl wasn’t only in the search for adventure, but the right price monitoring tool as well. That’s how they crossed paths with Price2Spy.
Key challenges
Working with retailers all around Europe can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to ensuring that your brand image on the market remains unharmed and preserves its reputation.
Below are listed some issues regarding the challenges of RipCurl’s monitoring requirements:
- A large product assortment with various product categories each with its specifics;
- Many product variations – products are being sold in different colors or sizes which affect the pricing. These product variations are usually displayed on the same product page, so it’s hard to differentiate them;
- Different markets selling their products in different currencies;
- Need to understand and monitor the pricing behavior of retailers;
- Need to protect the brand value and reputation.
One of the most challenging issues is the fact that RipCurl’s products are being sold in different colors and sizes which affect the price. It can be difficult to make sure that the correct product variations are compared and that all the pricing data is highly accurate.
Another important point is the fact that RipCurl Europe has dealers across the continent, and different currencies need to be taken into consideration, once again, to make sure that Price2Spy’s analytics is being fed with precise data.
RipCurl was faced with all these obstacles while trying to maintain its leading market position.
As you can tell, help from a price monitoring tool such as Price2Spy was much needed.
Price2Spy’s given solutions
Since the global market is not easy to cover, RipCurl decided to start with Europe first and grow its requirements in the future to make sure all continents are being monitored and the global brand image preserves its reputation. Therefore, Price2Spy offered the following solutions:
- Separate Price2Spy accounts – this was a necessity due to the need for monitoring different markets in different currencies. Price2Spy can provide managing different markets and currencies in a centralized way, but we needed to provide a solution that would also allow high independence between different markets, as they are being analyzed by different RipCurl teams.
- Enabling Price2Spy to monitor different product variations – This is a solution we have been offering to our clients for a long time, and we have a highly efficient mechanism to make sure we distinguish product variations displayed on the same page.
- Product matching performed manually to ensure that all different variations are located – Applying the product parameters is performed by Price2Spy’s highly experienced data entry team at the same time when product matching is performed, so the client doesn’t have to deal with these tasks and manage important issues. Our other matching option, Automatch, wasn’t applicable in this scenario, as the matching process requires applying parameters. Since not all sites are displaying them in the same manner, this process couldn’t be automated. Also, the monitored sites are not using RipCurl’s product codes in all cases – the data entry team can rely on all available product information, including the image, so we made sure that all matches have been entered.
In addition to the initial setup, a continuous setup is provided as well. That requires finding new matches every day.
“Even though we’ve been struggling before, after spreading our influence into watches and mountain wear, it became clear that we need some serious help. We’re offering many different products, and to make things even more complicated, we’re present in different markets, which means different currencies and many other competitors to watch after. After a few consultations with the Price2Spy team, we understood that they are the solution we’ve been looking for. Maintaining a leading market position is now much easier when we have accurate pricing information.“ – Claire Dupont, Business Analyst
One of the reasons why Price2Spy was the best fit for this client lies in the product matching performed manually and minimal client engagement in the onboarding process. Due to the reasons we already explained, our Price2Spy team had to perform a manual matching. That left more time for our client to focus on other important tasks.
Also, since the client expressed the need for monitoring different markets, enabling separate Price2Spy accounts was also an important thing to point out.
This time Price2Spy was faced with a true challenge, and once more we found the right solution! We got rewarded with another valuable experience and most importantly, with another happy client! Nothing makes us happier than being a part of our clients’ success!
Do you also struggle with competition monitoring and staying on top of the market? Don’t waste any more time and start your 30 days free trial period with Price2Spy.
