RETAIL MATTERS
Retail matters
This month online4baby’s Managing Director, Christy Foster takes a look at stock and spiralling shipping costs.
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hit levels that I have not seen here to start this before. Importing goods from month… with China has hit an all-time high as some nice container rates reach levels of weather, a glass of $12,000 to ship a 40ft container, fizz in the beer garden and after and that is if you can get the space. long awaited trips to the Needless to say, our purchasing hairdressers, everyone at team is feeling the pressure this online4baby looks human again! I month and the outlook is that this celebrated the easing of lockdown is going to last until at least June with a trip to Chester zoo with the family. It was great to see the kids having fun and enjoying the outdoors in Prices are definitely a different setting. I found going to have to increase myself watching all the and pass to consumer. mums go by, looking at It’s a crucial time to be what brand of prams they savvy about what we are had, what colours and buying, how much stock trends are key and got some we are holding and inspiration from seeing reassessing prices people out and about. Back in the office, its before we see any kind of reprieve. not such a relaxing time, and It becomes a question of who current situations do not seem to has stock in the country and is it be getting any easier. As we came the right stock? Can retailers and out of Chinese New Year and suppliers afford to bring in the started the relaxing of lockdown, stock at these exorbitant costs, and we thought it would somewhat ease the pressures on shipping and if they can…can they even get a booking slot, or do you choose to the rising cost of goods. However, ship through Europe and risk a we now find ourselves in a 2-week backlog with customs? situation where rising costs have
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Add to that manufacturing and component costs and it is a perfect storm that is near impossible to gauge. Prices are definitely going to have to increase and pass to consumer. It’s a crucial time to be savvy about what we are buying, how much stock we are holding and reassessing prices. Brands are revaluating price lists and ranges and putting new product development on the back burner as they wait for the market to settle. In all my years in the industry, I have never been in a situation like this. A lot of businesses could get in a real mess if decisions are not made with careful thought and consideration for what the future landscape looks like. It is a worrying time in an industry that was already struggling. At Online4Baby we are taking a cautious approach. We are not holding back on our ambitions for this years’ growth, but we are making carefully considered
purchases, reassessing our ranges constantly and keeping a close eye on pricing. We are fortunate to have a good stock backing of over £7million which will enable us to offer our customer good products and availability over the coming months. The level of service we offer to customers and our knowledge and expertise that we can share with them is at the forefront of our business in these unsettled times. Customers are looking for retailers that they can trust. They want to have a shopping experience with retailers that can make that exciting time for them as easy and stress free as possible. Moving into the summer, I think we are all looking forward to further lockdown easing and the prospect of meeting up inside with friends and family as well as some longawaited holidays. Let’s get those summer strollers on the shelves and look forward to some sunshine.
nursery today
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