With the announcement of Amazon tightening their Advance Ship Notice (ASN) compliance program, I thought I would share some thoughts on vendor compliance. But first more about Amazon’s announcement:

ASN On-Time Non-Compliance

1. 2% cost of product: the ASNs you submit have less than 100% compliance but greater than 95% from the trailing six weeks.
2. 4% cost of product: the ASNs you submit have between 70% – 95% compliance from the trailing six weeks.
3. 6% cost of product: the ASNs you submit have less than 70% compliance from the trailing six weeks.

Vendor management is vital in today’s supply chain, in order to have cost control and efficiency. Today, supply chains are getting larger and faster than ever.  With online and drop-ship programs growing fast, retailers cannot afford to deliver a poor customer service experience.  Amazon is raising the bar for all retailers – and suppliers are also forced to up their game.

A well-planned vendor compliance program that states consistent goals and parameters can help you standardize your internal procedures and achieve significant savings and efficiencies that will give you an edge over your competition and increase your profits. In business today, your customers are making you accountable for your products, service, and errors—mistakes within the supply chain are very time consuming and costly, no one wants to take a hit to their overall cost and budgets, so compliance is a must.

Having the correct processes in place to manage your compliance and ensure your business has a seamless flow, without disruption is critical.  Shipping the wrong product, arriving late, incorrect quantities in your ASN, these are all mistakes that can be avoided with having some focus on compliance. Having the good systems and tools to help you is very important.

If you are struggling with one or more of your customers with meeting compliance, there are companies that can help you become more compliant and reduce/eliminate compliance chargebacks. If you would like to discuss in further details, please leave a comment below or contact us.