‘Across the Recall Ecosystem: Leading Practices, Challenges & Lessons Learned’
Plenary session 2: ‘Across the Recall Ecosystem: Leading Practices, Challenges & Lessons Learned’ featured speakers from Costco, Peloton and Health Canada, and was moderated by a representative from the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
The panel discussed best practices in product recalls, common challenges companies face when conducting a recall, and learnings from stakeholders who have been through recalls and come out the other side. Key points discussed included:
- Timing for consumer notifications: The panel identified that timing is a big concern for retailers, who can find themselves not receiving much information from suppliers until the recall is about to be announced. This can be addressed by working with retailers from an early stage and ensuring there is an open and honest channel of communication along the supply chain, cooperating to develop a plan together for the timing for consumer notifications.
- Human factors to consider when communicating recalls: The panellists talked about the importance of layering communication to ensure consumers understand the risk and take action, and how there are various technologies that can help with this. Given many consumers have email fatigue nowadays, one panellist suggested that companies should be considering other forms of communication, including in-app push notifications, text messages and website pop-ups. The right communication will necessarily reflect the user base of the product in question, and for some ‘email’s where it’s at’ – whereas for others, text or paper communications may be appropriate.
- The role of the media in product recalls: Recently, there has been an increase in media coverage of recalls, particularly in the food sector. This can be challenging if there is a delay between notifying consumers, and the media coverage, of a recall, as it can cause confusion in the market. This is a challenge companies need to be prepared to manage when putting out safety information.
- Cooperation with regulators: The representative from Health Canada emphasised the importance of cooperating with regulators to avoid a mandatory recall being ordered by a government agency. She noted that it is essential for companies to work with their suppliers and regulators in order to ensure consistent and clear messaging is given to consumers, and reminded the audience that Health Canada has template communications freely available on its website that can be used for these purposes.
- Reframing recalls: The panellists emphasised that recalls should be seen as a way of learning about, and improving on, their internal product safety processes and building better relationships with stakeholders in their supply chain. They emphasised that recalls were not a negative business activity, and that companies who carry out voluntary recalls are those that want to do the right thing to ensure a high level of consumer safety.
The panel was a timely reminder that, whilst a product recall is not a situation companies want to find themselves in, where the recall is handled carefully, the impact can be managed in the best interests of all stakeholders. To do that successfully, it is critical to proactively ensure that you have the right practices and processes in place, before the safety issue arises.
The Cooley products team will be posting highlights from other plenary panel sessions on our blog throughout the event.
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