The retailer's listing request
A large retailer is interested in listing a range of your imported products. Their onboarding asks for test reports, declarations and labelling information for each item. Your team knows the factory sent test reports at some point. Some are in the buyer's inbox, some in a shared folder, one on a laptop that has since been replaced. A couple of products were changed after the test was done, and nobody is sure whether the report still covers them.
The listing is delayed for weeks while someone hunts for documents and asks factories to resend them.
Why documents are scattered
Compliance documents arrive at different times, from factories, test labs and consultants, usually by email. They are saved wherever the person receiving them chooses. They are linked to a supplier's product name, not your product code. They have issue dates and sometimes expiry dates that nobody tracks. And when a product changes, there is no prompt to check whether the documents still apply.
| Document type | Common problem |
|---|---|
| Test reports | Filed under the factory's product name |
| Declarations | Old version, product since changed |
| Labelling and marking information | Not linked to current artwork |
| Material or safety data sheets | Only in the original email |
| Certificates with expiry dates | Expired without anyone noticing |
Which documents each product needs is a question for your compliance adviser or testing body, depending on the product and where you sell it. We do not advise on that. We build the system that keeps what they tell you to keep.
What scattered compliance costs
Retail and marketplace listings are delayed or lost. Requests from authorities are harder to answer quickly and confidently. Products may be sold after a change that should have triggered new testing, because nobody linked the change to the file. And the knowledge of what exists sits with one or two people.
Factory changes are a quiet risk. If you move a product to a new factory, or the factory switches a material supplier, the documents on file may describe a product you no longer sell. Nobody does this on purpose; the change simply happens in one conversation and the paperwork lives in another.
The compliance file we build
- Each product, by your own code, has a compliance file with a checklist of required documents, set by product type from what your advisers specify.
- Documents are uploaded or forwarded to a dedicated address, where an extraction step reads the product, factory, standard referenced, issue date and any expiry, and proposes the link to your product for someone to confirm.
- Missing documents are listed per product, and requests to the factory can be sent from the file.
- Expiry dates trigger reminders ahead of time.
- When a product's specification, materials or factory changes, the file is flagged for review so someone checks whether existing documents still apply.
- A complete pack for any product, or range, can be exported or shared by link for a retailer, marketplace or inspector.
- One place to find every product's documents.
- Gaps visible before a customer asks.
- Changes to a product prompt a check.
What your team has afterwards
A retailer's request becomes an export. Missing documents are known and chased before they are needed. Expiring certificates are renewed on time. When a product changes, someone is asked to check its file. And the knowledge is held in the system, not in one person's inbox.
Is this your document situation?
- Retailer onboarding stalls on document requests.
- Test reports are filed under the factory's product names.
- You are unsure whether reports still cover changed products.
- Certificates have expired without anyone noticing.
- Only one or two people know where documents are.