When an import goes wrong, the first impact you see is usually operational: a delay, a problem with an order, a tense email exchange with the supplier. But the real impact almost never stops there. Sooner or later, it ends up affecting the sales team, in the form of a lost sale, a customer who won’t buy again, or a margin that no longer matches the selling price set months earlier. As we explained when discussing the strategic triangle of sourcing, cost, quality and positioning are so closely linked that a mistake in the import process rarely remains confined to procurement: it trickles down, in various guises, to the very last stage of the sales funnel.
The problem is that many companies continue to treat procurement and imports as a support department – almost invisible whilst everything is running smoothly, and only relevant when something goes wrong. This way of organising has a hidden cost: decisions that appear to be purely logistical — choosing a supplier, setting a deadline, accepting a sample — end up directly influencing what the sales team can promise, and deliver, to their customers. We review five of the most common mistakes in this area, and how to avoid them before they become a sales problem.
1. Choosing a supplier based solely on price, without verifying it
It is the most common mistake, particularly amongst first-time importers: comparing several quotes and going for the cheapest one without first checking who is behind it. The problem is not looking for the best price, but doing so without prior verification – something we explained in detail when we went through the five signs for identifying fraudulent suppliers. When the supplier fails to deliver as promised, it is not just the procurement department that pays the price: the sales department pays it too, in the form of returns, complaints and negative reviews, which cost far more to recover from than the savings made in the initial negotiation.
Moreover, that cost is not always immediately apparent. A batch of inconsistent quality may take weeks to generate complaints, and by then a large part of the order has already been sold: the reputational damage occurs gradually, customer by customer, and is much harder to contain than a simple delivery delay. A checklist for assessing suppliers before confirming the order remains the simplest way to avoid this, and it is worth applying it even when the supplier comes recommended or has been operating on the platform for some time.
2. Miscalculating production and transport lead times
An import lead time is not an approximate date: is a commitment to the end customer, even if he never gets to see it. When the stock planning does not take into account actual production and shipping times; the result is almost always the same: a out of stock just when demand is at its peak. It’s not just a single sale that’s lost, the opportunity to attract that customer is also missed before the competition gets to them, and in many sectors that first purchase is what determines whether or not they will return.
Added to this is the fact that unforeseen events, far from being the exception, are part of the equation: a delayed inspection, a container that does not depart on the scheduled date, or a particularly strict customs office that week. Effective stock control for imported goods, combined with clear protocols on how to respond to a supplier’s delay, is what distinguishes a manageable stock shortage from an irretrievably lost sale. The difference, almost always, lies in having built in that margin for manoeuvre before it is needed.
3. Failing to monitor quality at source
When a product arrives faulty, the problem no longer lies with the factory: it is now in the customer’s hands. And at that point, the complaint ceases to be a quality issue and becomes a brand issue. We have already discussed what to do when an imported product arrives with defects, but the best strategy is always to avoid reaching that point in the first place: quality control in China prior to dispatch costs a fraction of what it costs to deal with returns, poor reviews and, in many cases, the permanent loss of that customer.
Furthermore, the impact is not limited to the defective item itself. In the age of public reviews and social media, a single poorly manufactured product can shape perceptions of an entire catalogue, and the sales team ends up defending a brand against a problem that originated weeks earlier, thousands of kilometres away, at a stage in the process that can no longer be rectified at the point of sale.
4. Failing to anticipate changes in costs
Tariffs change, sea freight rates fluctuate seasonally, and the price of raw materials is never fixed. When these variations are not closely monitored, the margin gradually erodes without anyone in the sales team noticing, until one day the retail price that had been working for months is no longer profitable. Reviewing hidden import costs and knowing how to respond to rising transport costs should be a regular practice, not a last-minute reaction.
This mistake is particularly insidious because it does not manifest itself as a one-off crisis, but rather as a slow erosion of profitability that can go unnoticed for months if no one is regularly checking the figures. And when the margin does start to shrink, there are specific ways to increase the trade margin on imported productswithout having to raise the retail price abruptly – something that a belated and hasty adjustment often forces you to do.
5. Poor communication with the supplier
Many product errors do not stem from the supplier’s bad faith, but from an unclear specification from the outset. When there is no well-defined product data sheet, each party interprets the order in their own way, and the result is often discovered too late: a product that does not match what was promised to the customer in the sales brochure. This discrepancy, however minor it may seem – a slightly different colour, a material that is not exactly as specified, a finish that does not meet the expected standard – leads to complaints and returns that could easily have been avoided with a document that should be in place before a single unit is manufactured, and which also serves as an objective reference should any disagreement arise with the supplier.
None of these five mistakes is purely logistical. Sooner or later, they all have an impact on the profit and loss account and on the customer experience– which is, ultimately, what sustains the trust that encourages a customer to make a repeat purchase.That is why, at S3 Group, we view importing as part of the business strategy, not as an isolated department: vetting suppliers, planning lead times with realistic margins, checking quality before dispatch, keeping a close eye on costs and setting out every specification in writing are, at heart, decisions that safeguard sales before a problem even arises.The sooner these decisions are made, the cheaper it is to avoid mistakes, and the easier it is for the sales team to continue promising, with confidence, what the business can deliver.
