An ecommerce business may not be able to control its online reputation like other types of businesses, but that doesn’t mean that it should ignore quality control inspections of its products. Quality control (QC) has been a staple of many businesses, including manufacturing companies and those producing food products, for centuries, but it has become increasingly important in the modern era as the number of small business owners using ecommerce platforms to sell their products has increased significantly over the last few years. If you own an ecommerce company, here are six reasons why you should invest in quality control inspections of your products before they go out to customers.
1) Higher Conversion Rates
Good quality control inspections of e-commerce products will allow you to minimize returns and negative feedback, which helps boost conversion rates. The goal of quality inspection is to ensure that your product is everything it’s supposed to be before sending it out into the world. If a customer receives a product that isn’t up to par with what they thought they were purchasing, they may attempt to return or ask for an exchange/refund, thus causing a loss in revenue from returned goods and refunds. Most importantly though, low-quality control can result in negative customer reviews on sites like Amazon and eBay where potential customers can read about other customers’ experiences with your brand. An unhappy customer may decide not to buy your product just because of a bad review!
2) Greater Trust
If you’re selling your products online and a customer receives a damaged product, they may think you were trying to rip them off. If they order something but receive something that doesn’t match what they thought they were buying, customers may also think your company is trying to scam them out of their money. It’s important to work with a quality control inspection service that can carefully check through each of your items before shipment. This way, customers will know that you are sending them exactly what you say—no more and no less—and will have peace of mind knowing that your business does everything it can to keep its customers satisfied.
3) Shorter Shipments Mean Lower Costs
When you ship fewer products, you lower your shipping costs per product. Even if you only save a few cents on each item shipped, those savings can quickly add up over time. In addition to cutting down on your shipping costs, shorter shipments also allow you to more accurately assess your inventory levels at any given time. A shorter shipping period also means it’s easier to restock products as needed, making it easier to get what you need when customers want it. As an added bonus, if there are items in back order and other delays happen, it’s a lot easier for everyone involved when orders are all smaller and fully anticipated.
4) Less Returns or Refunds
According to BlueSnap’s State of Online Payments survey, over 20% of online shoppers returned an item they bought online in 2016. This means that as many as one in five purchases results in a disappointed customer who wants their money back. To keep your customers happy and prevent them from returning a product you can rely on QA inspectors to check your products prior to shipping them out. If defects are found, the inspector will document them and alert you prior to shipping so that you can send a replacement or issue a refund accordingly. While returns are never fun, quality control by pre shipment inspection can help you reduce them.
5) Better Warehouse Flow
As online retailers grow, some lose sight of why they started their business in the first place. Being in a warehouse can be an incredibly frustrating experience. It’s crowded, smells weird, and is often too hot or cold. And with hundreds of employees running around each day trying to get jobs done, it’s easy to understand how warehouses can end up being so chaotic and unpleasant. Having just-in-time deliveries brings a whole new level of challenges to warehouses and it’s important to keep an eye on inventory levels to ensure stock isn’t sitting around rotting when it could be sold instead (known as forecast misses). Running out of products means lost sales, which ultimately hurts your business.
6) Better Information on Your Inventory
When you’re running an e-commerce business, it can be tough to keep track of your inventory levels. There’s always a risk that you might be stuck with some items no one wants, but without knowing how many items are still in stock or what kind of return rates you should expect on certain kinds of products, it can be hard to know how to adjust your orders and organize your warehouse. Regular quality inspection services help you stay on top of what you have on hand so you know when a big order is due or if there are any products that have been sitting around too long and need to get removed from stock before they go bad. The closer your inventory is organized and up-to-date, the more productive and cost-effective your operations will be.
