Executive Summary
Hikvision, a global leader in security technology, faced a staggering logistical challenge: managing a continuous flow of hundreds of thousands of products across 40 countries in the EMEA region. Before Sunday, the company was trapped between twelve-month lead times from headquarters and inconsistent quality from local vendors. By integrating Sunday's platform directly into their installer incentive app and HubSpot flows, Hikvision transitioned from a manual, "side stream" logistics model to a fully automated engine. This shift reduced return rates by 95% through customs automation and recovered thousands of hours for both regional managers and central brand teams.
About the Client
Hikvision is a global powerhouse in the security and camera systems industry. Their EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) operations represent one of the most complex geographical footprints in the world. Their success relies on a vast network of third-party installers, dealers, and influencers who act as the primary brand ambassadors. For Hikvision, merchandise is the currency of their loyalty program and the physical touchpoint of their technological ecosystem.
The Challenge: The Bottleneck of Global Scale
Managing merchandise at Hikvision's scale created a "logistical wall" that hindered growth and damaged brand perception. The organization was suffering from three primary operational failures:
1. The lead-time trap
To maintain quality, country managers were often forced to order through global headquarters. However, this required a twelve-month forecast. In a fast-moving tech market, it was impossible to act in time for emerging campaigns. The alternative was local sourcing, which resulted in high prices and a fragmented brand look across the 40 countries.
2. The side stream logistics delay
Internally, merchandise shipping was treated as a low-priority task. When an installer earned a reward for a high-performance project, it could take months for the package to actually ship. This delay effectively killed the momentum of the incentive program. Rewards that arrive months late feel like an afterthought, not an achievement.
3. The customs and admin burden
Every international shipment required two to three hours of manual document generation. Even then, packages were frequently stopped at borders, requiring the recipient (an installer or influencer) to pay unexpected duties before delivery. This led to high friction and a massive return rate for international rewards.
The Solution: An Automated Merchandise Engine
Hikvision replaced their fragmented manual processes with a centralized system that connects the Sunday platform directly to their business tools. This moved merchandise from a manual task to an automated background process.
API integration: Turning coins into kits
Hikvision operates an in-app reward system where installers earn coins for their work. Sunday integrated directly with this app via API. When an installer trades their coins for gear, the Sunday platform instantly checks live stock status, generates the order, and triggers the shipment. No Hikvision employee is involved in the transaction. The system even follows up automatically to track recipient satisfaction and usage rates, providing Hikvision with data-driven insights into which products are actually driving loyalty.
Automating the influencer welcome
For influencer onboarding, Hikvision utilized Sunday Redeem Pages integrated with HubSpot. When a new influencer is added to their onboarding flow in HubSpot, they automatically receive a link to a personalized Sunday Redeem Page. The influencer chooses their size and enters their shipping details. This entire welcome pack flow is now 100% automated, ensuring every influencer starts their partnership with a premium brand experience without a single manual email from the marketing team.
Last mile customisation for dealers
A key pillar of Hikvision's growth is their dealer program, where top-tier installers can add their own company name to Hikvision-branded apparel. This co-branding used to be a manual nightmare, requiring 10 to 15 hours per order for logo requests, formatting, and approvals. Now, the platform handles this automatically. The dealer enters their name on the platform, and Sunday's last mile engine generates the design within pre-approved brand rules. The platform even manages the cost-splitting ratio between Hikvision and the dealer, automating the financial complexity of the partnership.
Platform Features Used: Infrastructure at Scale
The Hikvision operation is defined by its technical depth and seamless distribution:
- Customs automation: Sunday's platform automatically generates all necessary international documents. By shipping Delivered Duty Paid (DDP), Sunday ensures the recipient never pays a fee, which has reduced international return rates by 95%.
- Live stock transparency: Hikvision maintains 30 different SKUs and hundreds of thousands of products. The brand team has a live view of this inventory at all times, preventing stock-outs across the 40-country network.
- Global fulfillment: From bulk pallets for distributors to individual thank you packages for installers, every shipment is handled by the same Sunday logistics engine.
Impact and Key Results: Transforming the Loyalty Economy
The transition to a system-oriented approach allowed Hikvision to scale their influence without scaling their headcount:
1. 95% reduction in return rates
By automating the customs process and ensuring no-fee delivery for the recipient, Hikvision virtually eliminated the friction of international shipping. This saved hundreds of hours in customer support and thousands of euros in lost inventory.
2. From months to instant fulfillment
By moving logistics away from internal side streams and into Sunday's dedicated fulfillment engine, the time between an installer earning a reward and the package being dispatched moved from months to a same-day or next-day reality.
3. 15 hours saved per co-branded order
The automation of the dealer co-branding process removed the administrative burden from the brand team. What used to take two days of back-and-forth communication now takes zero manual effort.
4. Customs automation as a productivity multiplier
Automating the documentation for shipments outside of Europe saves 2 to 3 hours per shipment. Across a global player's volume, this represents a significant recovery of internal resources.
Conclusion: The Blueprint for Global Brands
Hikvision's success with Sunday demonstrates that merchandise does not have to be a logistical burden, even at a continental scale. By prioritizing automation, API integration, and logistics transparency, Hikvision has proven that even the most complex international operations can be made frictionless. They didn't just buy merchandise: they built a system to deliver it.
