British consumer goods manufacturing standard heads to the US
BRC’s standard for consumer goods covers health and beauty products, textiles, toys, furniture and electrical goods and is a way for suppliers to show retailers their products are safe and of consistent quality.
“In the US, and previously in the UK, retailers individually have to inspect their suppliers, go into factories and look at the standard of production,” BRC’s Richard Dodd told CosmeticsDesign.
This causes a huge amount of duplication, with each retailer inspecting each supplier separately, he explained.
Third party certification cuts down on inspections
A standard, such as the BRC’s, works as a third party certification scheme and avoids multiple inspections, he said.
In an attempt to corner the US market, the BRC has signed an agreement with Retail Industry-Leaders Association (RILA) which it claims is the leading retail trade association in the US.
“RILA will be encouraging their members to use the global standard, good news for the retailers and suppliers as no more multiple inspections,” explained Dodd.
It will be particularly beneficial for UK suppliers of consumer goods who are already BRC certified, as the standard will become more common and accepted in the US on the back of the partnership.
In addition, partnering with the US organisation will significantly expand the market in which the BRC standard operates. The consumer goods standard is not the only one available in the UK marketplace and cannot, as yet, be described as the market leader, said Dodd.
As it is one of the organisation’s newer offerings, it has not gained as much market share in the UK as the food production standard, explained Dodd.
The organisation hopes that the new partnership with RILA will help expand the standard’s reach.
“This partnership is an essential part of developing the BRC Global Standard for Consumer Products into the worldwide standard of choice,” said director of BRC standards Dr Geoff Spriegel.
