What continues once the goods have left: repeat orders, supplier follow-up, product and packaging feedback, quality questions, and the records that keep each of them readable.
Support after shipment is operational rather than conversational: points are attached to the order they came from, and each one leaves a record behind.
The sales team stays with the account after shipment. A repeat order or an additional quantity is taken up from the specification already approved, rather than from the beginning.
RecordedThe reorder request, the quantity and the specification it is placed against.
The merchandising team holds the conversation with the supplier, so questions that a repeat order or a feedback item leaves with the factory go back to the people who already ran the order.
RecordedWhat was asked of the supplier, the reply, and whether it is still open.
Comments on the product or its packaging are logged against the order they came from, so a change can be carried into the next production run instead of being lost in correspondence.
RecordedThe feedback itself, the order it refers to, and the agreed change.
Where a quality question is raised, the team speaks to the client first and reaches a shared position before anything continues; corrective communication with the supplier follows that agreement.
RecordedThe question as raised, the agreed position with the client, and the corrective message to the supplier.
How quality is checkedThe account keeps its specification, sample and inspection history, so follow-on products, a new quantity or an enquiry that arrives through a client introduction start from a known position.
RecordedThe approved specification and sample history, the inspection results and the new requirement.
The procurement processEach state is written as a dot and a word together, so a list stays readable without relying on colour alone.
This is the vocabulary this page uses to describe a follow-up item. It is not the status of any particular order; the state of a live item is the one written in that project’s file.
The same file follows the order through production, inspection and shipment, and then carries the follow-up items that come afterwards.
| Record | What it holds | Kept from |
|---|---|---|
| Requirement brief and approved specification | Product, material, size, colour, packaging and target market as confirmed before sourcing started. | Requirement |
| Signed PI and the supplier contract | The quantities, the agreed price basis, the trade terms and the payment nodes for that order. | Before production |
| Sample approval | The sample the client confirmed and the material, size, colour and packaging it stands for. | Sample |
| Inspection report | The pre-shipment check result together with the photographs and video taken at inspection. | Pre-shipment |
| Factory audit report, where the order called for one | The audit result for the supplier, issued alongside the order documentation. | Supplier |
| Client release and payment record | The written approval of the inspection result or the bulk sample, and the settled balance. | Release |
| Shipping documents and dispatch record | The documents prepared by the documentation team and the record of the shipment itself. | Shipment |
| Follow-up notes | Repeat orders, product or packaging feedback, quality questions and the corrective communication that followed. | After shipment |
Each figure below is a placeholder labelled with the size it should be replaced at.
A few items are agreed case by case. They are named here so the boundary is clear, and left unstated as general promises.
Send the product, the quantity and what changed. The team works from the record your account already holds.