Who Should Take Charge of your Product Recall?

Product recall is not something which many manufacturers devote a great deal of time to thinking about. Manufacturers, as much as they are able to, develop their products and ensure that they are safe for the end user – their thinking views problems as something to be avoided, not planned for.

This thinking is obviously flawed. No-one gets into a car with the intention of crashing it. But everyone ensures that they wear a seat belt, just in case they do. For the same reason, manufacturers should spend at least some time thinking about what course of action will be taken in the even that their product develops a problem which will necessitate a recall. Contingency planning must be implemented.

That this will happen at some point is almost an inevitability. From time to time, even the most stringently-developed products are susceptible.For example, a drink might be found to contain mould or other contaminants, or an electrical gadget might be found to have developed a potentially dangerous wiring fault. In these instances, where the product poses a danger to those who might use or consume it, the law demands that it be recalled.

The scenario is one that haunts the nightmares of retailers and manufacturers alike. It is easy to see why. A product recall can have a considerable negative impact on the reputation of a brand. Most of us would hesitate before buying ice cream from a shop whose ice cream was once found to contain traces of salmonella. This danger is all the more severe if the recall does not go as smoothly as it might. A single polite notice informing the public of the problem will be accepted – a long campaign of them will potentially be damaging.

There are many reasons why a product recall might not go smoothly, since there are many potential pitfalls along the way.The relevant authorities will need to be notified – in the UK these might include Trading Standards or the Food Standards Agency. The product will need to be removed from retailers, wholesalers and distributors – to say nothing of the products which have already found their way into customer’s homes. As well as the actual removal of a product from the shelf, notices will need to be issued to the public so that they can return their faulty product to the shop from which they bought it.

This is a very tricky business, particularly for those with little experience of product recall. Just as problems occur which sometimes necessitate a recall, they can occur during the recall itself. You may, for example, have conflicting accounts of whether the product has been brought back. While these problems are being addressed, you are distracted from other areas of the business which demand your attention. An already stressful situation can thereby become all the more so!

However competent your staff may be at their respective jobs, they cannot be expected to perform a task with which they are not experienced. This is why many companies, when faced with a recall, call in someone who is.

Why not hire a specialist company?

In order that these problems be kept to a minimum, it is often best to enlist the aid of a specialist product recall company. Such companies have a wealth of pertinent experience. This is to be expected, they do after all perform product recalls week in, week out.

A professional recall, of the sort offered by a competent field marketing company, is often costly enough to dissuade many manufacturers. This inclination is understandable; the company in question will, after all, already be reeling from the losses which the recall itself will incur.These costs almost invariably prove worthwhile, however – particularly if the product in question has been on sale for a long time.

A good product recall company will be able to respond quickly. Some promise to respond on the same day. They will be able to provide you with a timetable of the recall, as well as regular progress reports, since, as well as speed, transparency is also essential.

As well as benefiting from a wealth of experience, specialist companies will also have access to technologies which will make their task a great deal easier. Many of these technologies will be tailor-made for precisely that situation; tablet-based software will allow them to observe the progress of the recall on the fly and keep track of the products which require recalling and to provide you with easy-to-understand visual representations of the recall’s progress.