Think Your Market Is Global? Then Global Consumer Regulators Likely Are Watching Your Business

Advances in internet technologies, global social media platforms, and inventory order management and shipping delivery systems have revolutionized our businesses. Shopping-at-home and catalog sales, markets most retailers never would have considered as recently as 20 years ago, are now vibrant. Your business now may have customers in many different countries. You should be aware of the growing collaboration among the consumer watchdogs across the world, because those regulators may well be aware of your business through consumer complaints.

econsumer.gov is a site sponsored by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) and supported by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as approximately 35 other countries' consumer regulators. The site provides consumer education and publishes trends regarding consumer fraud complaints. As the tag line of the site reveals, it also is a portal for the collection of global consumer fraud complaints: "Report international scams online." Among the tips the site offers consumers is to use social media to publicize complaints about business practices.

ICPEN suggests that companies have personnel monitoring social media and consider taking prompt action regarding complaints. Your PR and customer experience teams should be aware of this ICPEN recommendation. You should consider training and policies to address handling both on-line and social media complaints. Doing so will help keep customers returning to your business, will protect your brand reputation, and may help lower the risk of intervention by global regulators. For more detailed information about the types of information ICPEN and econsumer.gov is tracking and what you can do to help mitigate your regulatory, brand and litigation risks, please read this complete article.