Insight December 2021

Page 24

Supply Update

Industry update with Howard Wilder

Howard Wilder

Sales Director, Banner

Reflections on a challenging year What a year it’s been! From the January ‘lockdown’— which lasted until April—to the return of schools, the uncertainty over curriculums and testing and bubbles and disruption to supply chains… it seems like we had one challenge after another. And in truth we did. But thankfully, by working together as suppliers and retailers, we’ve delivered a service to parents and schools that is in many ways remarkable. From ordering early to staying open late–and a raft of ideas and initiatives in between— schoolwear retailers have shown

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a determination and creativity that is a credit to our industry. For our part, the teams here at Banner worked tirelessly to overcome the most difficult challenges we’ve ever faced. The impact of COVID has varied across the world and its sometime easy to forget that while the situation here at home was improving, that wasn’t necessarily the case for our manufacturers overseas. To cap it all, who’d have predicted that the Suez Canal would be blocked, causing further disruption to global supply chains. If we have learnt one thing from this year, it’s that keeping customers in the loop is vital and much appreciated by all. That’s why we’ve increased our


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