No one starts a business with the intention of building a bad reputation. While there may be some allure in being a rebel in everyday life, doing the same with your company could end your business journey before it begins. People simply won’t put their trust in a brand that doesn’t have a squeaky-clean industry standing.
With this in mind, most companies spend a fair amount of time on reputation development, with a special focus on things like brand ethics, and operational practices. Unfortunately, focusing on these things in-house often isn’t enough to ensure no reputational skeletons are waiting to leap out of your closet.
Many brands are also coming under fire for the actions of their supply chain associations. In this modern age of cancel culture, this is particularly true if your providers have even tenuous links to inflammatory topics like oil production and other unsustainable practices. To gain and keep consumer trust, you need to be fully aware of who you’re working with, and where they fit within your brand ethics.
In this article, we’ll consider some of the best ways to keep your supply chain closet skeleton-free.
On the surface, it can seem like opting for the cheapest supply chain solution is the best option. After all, this will save you money, and allow you to keep product costs down. In reality, though, rushing into a deal based on pricing alone could end up being more costly in the long run.
These days, it’s vital that companies conduct due diligence checks on every single supply chain company they consider working with. Mainly, you’ll need to research that company’s reputational standing, with a particular focus on any controversies in their operational past. It’s also important to do thorough research into the ethical outlooks of all supply chain traders, as well as researching how those are implemented in real time.
While it can seem time-consuming, this research ensures you’re able to find supply chain associates that are the best fit for your brand, as well as your operations themselves.
Countless companies in recent years have found themselves tripped up over the associations of companies within their supply chain. For instance, if you’re a brand that preaches animal kindness, but are found to be supplying your stock from a company that’s also working with an animal testing center, then you’ll soon find yourself in hot water. In a roundabout way, consumers could construe this as you funding animal testing in some part. And that would entirely undermine your ‘cruelty-free’ ethic.
The only way around this is to trace entire supply chains and conduct some level of due diligence surrounding supplier associations. This due diligence needn’t be quite as in-depth as your initial research, but you should look out for reputational basics, like sustainability practices supply chain-wide.
This can seem like a mammoth task, but using tools like a multichain block explorer can simplify the process by showing you a supplier’s transactions and associations in one quick search. You could also benefit from simply asking your suppliers about any associations that may be of interest, and then verifying the specifics of what they’ve said.
Secrets in how you operate or who you work with will almost always lead to skeletons. Not being upfront about your suppliers will certainly increase the likelihood that skeptical consumers will go delving into your associations. And, when that happens, they may well pull up something you didn’t find yourself.
Being honest about your associations is the best way to avoid this level of doubt, and simply involves including supply chain information on your website or packaging. Obviously, you can keep this information to a minimum, and it needn’t be at the forefront of your branding. Still, supplying something as simple as a logo reel of your suppliers can clearly show people where you’re sourcing your stuff, and why it’s worth their time and money.
You could also do simple things, like shouting out your suppliers on social media when they gain industry recognition such as awards. As well as creating positive, supportive partnerships, this shows your consumers that you truly have nothing to hide.
Obviously, your best supply due diligence isn’t always enough to entirely save you from negative supply chain associations. It may be, for instance, that a supplier has begun working with a brand that doesn’t suit your ethics since you did your research. Or, perhaps a supplier is involved in some kind of scandal that ricochets to your door. These things happen. The key to protecting your reputation regardless lies in how you handle them.
In particular, even if a supplier has always delivered at a reasonable price, you should show consumers that you aren’t afraid to cut ties for the causes your brand most cares about. As soon as an issue like this comes to your attention, you should research it yourself and, if necessary, end the association to ensure it doesn’t come back to bite you.
If this scandal is particularly public, or consumers are starting to call you out for it, then releasing an official statement about your change of suppliers could go a long way. Of course, you don’t want to make this sound petty, so never call a supplier out, or take cheap shots to save yourself. However, a short, concise press release about how you’ve decided to part ways with a supplier due to ‘operational differences’ can let consumers know that, whatever the scandal, it has nothing to do with you.
Brand reputation is a tricky enough thing to get right in itself, let alone when you work with other companies that are ultimately out of your control. Still, supply chain skeletons could spell the end of your business journey if you aren’t careful. Make sure that never happens by taking these steps into account for every single one of your supply chain associations.
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