Amazon is becoming more and more competitive as businesses from all around the world use this platform to start, market, and grow their business.
What Differentiates A Good Business?
However, what differentiates a good business from all the competition goes beyond pricing or promotion- the quality of the products. No matter how well marketed your products are, if they are unable to fulfill consumer expectations then your business can never flourish.
This quality is not only related to the product itself but also regarding how detailed and accurate the product listings on Amazon are. This is important for the consumers on Amazon to examine products and their descriptions, and then make a decision about which products they want to purchase.
Business Acquiring Better Search Rankings
This also results in the business acquiring better search rankings within the Amazon marketplace. For these reasons, businesses make an effort to produce detailed product descriptions on Amazon so that they are able to appear among the top searches and expose themselves to a larger audience.
However, a lot of businesses on Amazon make the mistake of focusing incorrectly solely on the marketing strategy and promotion part of the business to attract a greater audience, which they think will bring them greater profits. However, if you want to make sure that your customers are satisfied and return to your business again, the most important element of your supply chain is the source of the products: the manufacturer. Since many businesses on Amazon from all over the world have their supply based in China, it is vital that you carry out a shipment inspection of products made by your Chinese manufacturer so that you are a 100% sure that the product you are receiving and marketing to your customers is exactly how you have promised it to be.
The quality of products is the key ingredient for a successful Amazon FBA business.
Because Amazon is essentially an online business where consumers cannot physically inspect the product before they make the purchase, it is essential that your product description and listing exactly matches the actual product that your customer receives. In case it does not, the customer will most likely return the product resulting in a loss of sales for your business. Another disadvantage in case the product does not match its listings is that customers rank your business badly by giving you poor reviews: not only will it discourage future customers from doing business with you, it might also result in Amazon suspending your listing.
These potential problems can be easily avoided if you carry out a pre-shipment inspection before receiving and selling your products.
What are the benefits of arranging inspections before shipment?
You catch issues in China before products are shipped to the FBA warehouse
Shipping and transporting defected products back to China can ve very costly. If were to catch these issues early on when the products are in China, you would gave time to fix the issues. Sending a product back to China from your warehouse can be very costly
Your Reputation as an Amazon FBA seller remains intact
At ATI we always say a business is only as good as their reputation, customers are relying on your Amazon product descriptions to be accurate since that is the only way for them to judge a product. You may not realize that product you shipped to the FBA warehouse is different from the description or of lower quality unless you conduct a pre-shipment inspection. Without any fault on your end, you may be sending customers products that don’t match the description. This can be detrimental to your amazon reviews. Bad reviews can cause losses in sales and also the seller’s reputation. Because customers received products that didn’t match the description. Amazon also has the right to suspend your seller central account if you have too many bad reviews.
Ensure Quality of your products
The biggest advantage of pre-shipment inspections for amazon FBA sellers and other importers is that products quality of products you receive is significantly better. When the factory is expecting for you to hire a third-party inspection firm. They will try their best to produce high quality products that don’t fail inspections. The accountability factor due to pre-shipment inspections would cause the factory to be more attentive to the quality of your products. Defects found by an inspection team will have to be repaired or reworked.
Amazon product listing accuracy
As mentioned several times earlier it is vital that your product description on Amazon matches your actual product quality exactly. By carrying out at thorough pre-shipment inspection. You are able to draft a better product listing with detailed and accurate descriptions. You may even ask your quality control inspector to send you production samples that represent the shipment closely. So that you are able to document your product details with the actual sample in front of you. Instead of having to rely on documents and reports sent to you by your QC team. You can even avail this opportunity to take some photographs of the product. Which you can then use to market on Amazon.
How To Lower Risks
You can use a pre-shipment inspection to lower risks. By verifying that your products are in line with Amazon packaging and labeling requirements
Amazon requires your packaging and labeling to fulfill certain criteria, which then allows you to be a seller on Amazon. If you do not conform to these requirements, then you find yourself in violation of Amazon’s policies. If you wait until you receive your shipment to verify that the packaging and labeling requirements are met. Then you put yourself at risk of incurring additional costs. In case these requirements are not completed by your supplier in China. It is a good idea to make sure during a pre-shipment inspection that these requirements are adequately met.
What exactly does the pre-inspection process include?
A pre-shipment inspection is conducted when the order is ready to be shipped. It helps importers eliminate or catch issues before the product is shipped. A PSI will cover a wide range of characteristics of a product. The overall appearance of the product is evaluated, the total quantity produced and packaged into cartons is checked. The materials and dimensions of the product are evaluated. As well as the dimensions of the packaging and overall functionality of the products. Is the product safe to use? Does it fulfill its purpose optimally?, All this is included in a PSI.
How does a pre-shipment inspection protect Amazon sellers business?
Payment terms
An advantage that you receive from your pre-shipment inspection is control over your payment negotiations with your supplier. You can levy the requirement that complete payment will only be made when the goods pass a pre-shipment inspection. This way, you will not have to pay for any defected products. That you might later have trouble recovering in value from your supplier.
Product specifications
If you want to make sure that your business flourishes on Amazon. It is key to make sure that your product matches your labeling and description. To achieve this, draft a well-detailed product description and specification. Form that accurately represents exactly what you wish to see in your products. Not only will this help your supplier produce good-quality products. But it will also aid your quality inspection team in making sure that it is checking the product sample. For each part of your requirements.
Conclusion
ATI carries out thorough pre-shipment inspections for Amazon FBA sellers. To make sure that they do not face any problems in importing their products from China. Providing them a range of services that extends from examining the product’s quality. To making sure that packaging is in-line with Amazon FBA requirements.