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E-commerce has steadily risen in the past decade. It now accounts for just under 16% of all sales. Given how new online shopping is in the grand scheme of things, this growth is nothing short of extraordinary.
E-commerce doesn't just make more products available around the globe. It also allows entrepreneurs a more affordable and accessible way to launch their first business.
The only problem? Many new online sellers underestimate the importance of quality control or forgo it altogether.
Today, we're going to talk about the importance of the pre-shipment inspection. Read on to learn how to improve online sales by investing in quality control.
Less Costs, More Profits
If you're running your e-commerce business without any third-party quality control in place, you're likely accruing more losses than gains.
For example, you may be losing time answering customer complaints and fielding returns. You may be spending money to rework damaged products. You may be losing sales as your reputation stagnates or even declines.
Adding third-party pre-shipment inspection allows you to focus on other aspects your business needs to thrive, like marketing and future product development. At the same time, it can increase profits by:
- Holding suppliers and manufacturers accountable to your standards
- Catching material or manufacturing mistakes early
- Verifying finished product quality
- Ensuring consumer expectations are met
- Reduce returns and refunds
In other words, an investment in quality is an investment in your success, growth, and customer satisfaction.
How to Build a Better Brand Loyalty
Online shoppers recognize the risk of buying a product sight unseen. However, they can and do take steps to hold brands accountable when something goes wrong. One of the biggest ways to do that is by leaving a review that reflects their shopping experience.
One bad experience can have a serious ripple effect. nine out of 10 customers will read reviews before buying a product. If you have bad reviews, it will negatively impact your brand reputation and reduce sales.
Quality control prepares you to meet customer expectations every time. The more positive reviews you receive (and the fewer negative reviews you get), the more your brand reputation and loyalty will improve.
Improved Product Quality
Regularly investing in quality control can prevent you from facing situations where you receive finished products that are not to the given requirements from your supplier. If you inspect at early stage, you can identify risks during the production process and have defects fixed before shipping out.
What this means in the long run is that you're investing in reliable product quality. When it comes to developing a successful business, the end-user outweighs any other consideration.
Fewer Shipping Delays
Why are so many e-commerce sellers facing such tight deadlines? Today's consumer has adjusted to the fast shipping times promised by e-commerce giants like Amazon and Wayfair. This puts pressure on small e-commerce businesses to provide free shipping with ultrafast delivery or potentially miss out on sales.
Delays in the production process or any rework can cause shipment delays and disrupt your schedule. To avoid this, it is recommended to have a pre-shipment inspection to monitor the quality of your finished products and understand your production progress. This inspection is typically conducted when the goods are 80%-100% finished. If your supplier fails to meet this, the inspector will also note the real production progress in the report for your reference. By conducting a pre-shipment inspection, you can have visibility on your product quality, make quick decisions based on the results, and ensure timely shipping.
Fewer Product Returns
Arguably worse than shipping delays are product returns. You lose out on a sale and take on the cost of wasted materials and product shipping. Plus, the need to return a product due to quality issues can cost your business customers thanks to:
- A distrust that you're not selling what you're advertising
- The inconvenience of mailing the product back
- The frustration of having to advocate for a refund
While few businesses will ever see a zero-percent return rate, pre-shipment inspections can eliminate returns resulting from defects and quality issues.
Increased Consumer Trust
If you're wondering how to improve online sales as a new e-commerce seller, the key is to develop consumer trust. To build consumer trust, you need:
- A professional website
- Authoritative and honest marketing
- Great customer service
- Competitive pricing and shipping times
- High-quality products
All of these elements can help your brand stand out and gain customers. However, it doesn't matter how great your website is or how competitive your prices are if your products don't meet your customers' expectations. Pre-shipment inspection should always be the last step before your products leave your factory or warehouse to be sure the products that are being delivered to your customers are what they ordered.
Accurate Listings
The success of your e-commerce business starts with a great listing. Many new online entrepreneurs recognize the value of an eye-catching listing. They prioritize listing elements like high-quality photography, SEO-driven product descriptions, and overall web design or speed.
While quality is important, accuracy is what matters most. Your customers want to know that what they see online is what they're going to receive in the mail, from color and size to function and quality.
For the best results, consider a pre-production inspection to evaluate your raw materials from the start of the manufacturing process. This allows sellers to confirm product specs and make any adjustments to their listings as needed. This is especially important if you're launching a new business, or product, or switching suppliers.
Strengthened Supplier Relations
When you're working with a new supplier, you're in a position that mirrors the typical consumer. You've done your research and looked at what a supplier has to offer. Now, you're trusting them to deliver consistent, high-quality materials.
When you hire a third-party company to tackle quality control, representatives will visit your supplier factories and warehouses directly. They can assess whether the quality of materials and finished product meet your standards. This will show your suppliers that you value accuracy and transparency.
This level of oversight will increase transparency and help you build trust with your suppliers. If needed, it will allow you to change suppliers before over-investing in poor quality.
Manage Time-to-Market
Time-to-market measures the time between a product's conception to its availability. In other words, your time-to-market begins when you have the idea for a product. It ends when you list that product for sale.
Anything from a supply chain delay to a manufacturing issue can lengthen your time-to-market schedule. During-production inspections, you can often prevent delays caused by manufacturers, such as:
- Using the wrong raw materials
- Cutting corners in production
- Using damaged raw materials
- Sending damaged or poor-quality finished products
With or without during-production inspections, pre-shipment inspections can help you better manage your time-to-market schedule. Pre-shipment inspections allow you to catch and fix product errors before making them available to consumers.
Reduced Rework Waste
Few businesses can avoid rework entirely. Rework refers to any part of the development process that has to be repeated. This can occur at all stages of development, including:
- Raw material sourcing
- Manufacturing
- Packaging
- Packing
- Shipping
Rework can come at a high cost. Not only does it hurt sales, but it requires businesses to scrap and replace materials. With pre-shipment inspections, you can start to scrap less and, as a result, waste less money and fewer resources.
Imagine that you ship a damaged product to a customer. They open it, see that it's damaged, and request a refund without returning the product. A pre-shipment inspection would have prevented the refund request and allowed you to salvage more of the product and its packaging.
Improved Sales Platform Relations
When you're building your brand as an e-commerce seller, you're likely utilizing an existing sales platform like Amazon or Shopify. There are many benefits of using an existing sales platform, from accessing their established customer base to taking advantage of the trust they've built over time.
To maintain that trust, these sales platforms tend to have strict quality expectations and requirements. If they see that one of their sellers is getting poor reviews due to quality or false advertising, they may prohibit that seller from using their platform in the future.
When you invest in pre-shipment inspections, you make it easier to meet these expectations and requirements.
Get Pre-Shipment Inspection with E-AQF
If you're trying to take your e-commerce business to the next level, it's time to start investing in quality control. As you can see, skipping out on a pre-shipment inspection can cost your business money, reputation, time, and more.
At eAQF, we've worked with e-commerce and Amazon sellers of all sizes with over 1400 experts covering all major manufacturing hubs. We can provide quality control at all stages of product development and you can access all reports through your digital portal. Book your pre-shipment inspection services today.
