The reputation of your brand is one of the most important things to consider as a business owner. Ensuring that the products you create do not end up in the wrong hands should be of the utmost importance.
When focusing on producing high-quality products, it is inevitable that some products will not meet your expectations. In fact, it is common to produce some products that, despite your best efforts, will be defective or off-specification.
Securing the proper disposal of these products is key to ensuring the quality of your products remains high. Especially now during this economic downturn, it’s more important than ever to have complete control over your inventory.
Certified product disposal, or secure product destruction, is a process by which products are destroyed or disposed of to ensure that they will not be resold or utilized illegally. The best certified product disposal companies will provide authentication so that you have peace of mind and proof that your products are being disposed of properly.
Here are the top reasons why secure product destruction protects your brand and the next step you should take to ensure your brand is guarded.
Protection From The Grey Market
The grey market can be a scary prospect for any manufacturer. The grey market refers to the sale or trade of a commodity through channels that are not permitted by the original proprietor or the original manufacturer.
How products end up on the grey market varies. Employees, street sellers, discount retailers and through improper destruction and disposal can all be responsible for your products ending up on the grey market.
No matter the method, your overall reputation can significantly suffer. That’s because consumers will still associate these inferior products with your company.
Products you should especially take extra precautions with include:
Uniforms with brand identification- Damaged goods
- Discontinued products
- Manufacturing overruns
- Obsolete inventory
- Blemished or off-spec items
- Promotional merchandise
- Seized counterfeit products
- Unused or outdated product packaging
Limit Your Liability
Defective products can expose your company to a liability risk. Products that do not meet regulatory standards should also be destroyed to reduce your risk.
Product returns due to a recall are a common occurrence in the United States as well. If you are subject to a product recall, especially due to a risk of injury, it is extremely important to ensure these products are properly disposed of to prevent these products from ending up back on the market.
In some cases, the legal system may require you to destroy a product through a court order. This most commonly occurs with patent and copyright infringement cases or seized goods at a port of entry.
Products that may fit this requirement include cosmetics and perfumes, handbags, media such as movies and music, clothing and shoes, jewelry and counterfeit licensed goods from movies and sports leagues.
Removing Obsolete Products
Protecting your brand includes providing long-term stability for your company. Secure product destruction services can also assist you with removing obsolete inventory, providing a cost incentive and setting your business up for a better long-term financial outlook.
Many companies have obsolete inventory if:
- Sales departments over-forecasted the appeal of a product
- Products were too technical for mass consumption
- Products required sales and marketing investments that exceeded their margins
- A product had a defective design that led to heavy returns
Extra space is often needed to store these obsolete items, which can carry additional costs through rental fees and any other associated costs such as insurance and utilities.
Proprietary Protection
Electronic products that contain important company proprietary information should be carefully disposed of as well.
Often, electronic products contain embedded memory with software that can be easily copied and then sold by other companies.
Prototypes and product test runs should also be securely destroyed. This helps protect the design of upcoming products that haven’t been released to market yet ... and stolen by competitors.
Peace Of Mind
Choosing a company that provides product destruction can help provide peace of mind that your brand is being protected. However, it is critical to choose a company that provides secure product destruction for true peace of mind.
Drivers, shipping company representatives and workers at the dump can all intercept your products on the way to the landfill.
Proper certified destruction services maintain tracking and security throughout the disposal process. This chain of custody includes photographic and video evidence of the destruction and ensures the highest level of professionalism.
Make sure the company you choose is certified, licensed, bonded and has experience disposing of your particular products. Some products may have their own state and federal requirements for proper disposal.
Our article, Certified Product Destruction Near Me, shares what you should look for in a certified product disposal company so that your products do not end up in unattended hands and your hard-earned reputation does not suffer.
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