10 minute read
Industry Issue: Stock issues
CHRISTMAS CANCELLED
At the time of going to press at the end of October, due to a massive bottleneck at Felixstowe, ships carrying goods, including Christmas gifts, are currently being diverted to EU ports, inevitably causing new delays. And if that wasn’t bad enough, a huge shortage of HGV drivers in Britain isn’t helping, with shoppers being warned to expect a ‘nightmare’ Christmas.
So how have gift retailers and suppliers been mitigating stock issues to ensure that there’s product on the shelves for the allimportant run-up to Christmas?
PG&H spoke to both suppliers and retailers for their views. Above: Worldwide shipping delays are being
blamed on new outbreaks of Covid in China, with the UK’s labour shortage being blamed on Brexit.
A Short-Term Problem
“The last few months have, without a doubt, caused issues of supply due to the global container shortage in, in particular, ex-Chinese ports,” comments
Mark Howard, managing director of
Puckator. “These issues have been exacerbated by port delays in Europe and the UK, soaring demand in North America, and an imbalance in equipment globally, with the repositioning of empty containers still very much a work in process.”
Continues Mark: “Apart from problems of container availability, other factors such as manpower shortages in factories, port lockdowns in China due to Covid, and China’s dual control of energy consumption, have all impacted on delivery times. Nonetheless, while the last few weeks have caused Puckator continuity of supply issues for some products, it is very much a short-term problem. Working hard with our cargo agent partners, and focusing on shipping 40ft containers or Hi-Cubes only, volumes currently in transit are at very high levels. Although the shortage of containers is likely to continue until after the Chinese New Year in February 2022, the strong relationships we have with our cargo agents should ensure that during Q4 of 2021 our stock levels will return to normal levels.”
Above: Mark Howard, managing director, Puckator.
Stock To Spare
“For many reasons, I think Christmas will be something of a shock in terms of product shortages, coupled with prices on the high street,” says Mike Winch, founder and owner of Candlelight. “With that in mind, in April, we took the decision to increase our purchasing for the back end of this year and early next year, on the basis that if you don’t have stock then you can’t sell anything,” he explains.
“We know from our own experience that a lot of major retailers have been hugely let down this year, and fortunately we are more than able to fulfil those orders. Our warehouse is bulging with stock, so for all retailers - both big and small - we have the stock to not only fulfil immediate orders, but also to supply stock to cover the January/February period, when the shelves need filling again.”
Above: Mike Winch, founder and owner of Candlelight.
We’re Well Stocked
“I don’t think that Christmas will be the Armageddon that people are predicting,” says Nigel Biggs, ceo, Rex London. “People will just be buying earlier. We are well stocked and carry stock of most lines. Earlier in the year, we realised the current situation was likely to happen and forward ordered. Unusually, we have run out of a few lines - considerably less than 1% - which is simply because things are taking longer to arrive. Looking ahead, we are physically ordering product for next Christmas, which is due in April. We are also trying to look beyond China, as we feel it is prudent to source from other countries too.”
We Took Stock In Earlier
“We always knew that getting stock into the business was going to be a challenge this Christmas,” explains Sarah Cox, gift buyer at Roys of Wroxham department store in Wroxham. “We therefore made a decision to take stock in earlier than we normally would if suppliers had stock available. This has proven to be a big positive for us, as we were able to open our Christmas departments within all our stores on time and they look amazing, already producing some excellent sales. More stock is arriving on a daily basis, so we are managing to keep our shelves looking full and provide our loyal customers with everything they need for the magical season ahead.”
Above: Department store Roys of Wroxham has avoided gift supply issues by bringing stock in early. Right: Sara Cox, gift buyer, Roys of Wroxham.
Good Supply Of Stock
“Despite the challenges affecting global supply chains, we have managed to successfully maintain a good supply of stock into our UK warehouses,” confirms Bruce Bell, marketing director at Gallery Direct. “We were ahead of the game looking for solutions and began to use bespoke charter ships to bring containers to the UK, with the first arriving in the early part of this year. Over the last few of months, we had hundreds of containers arriving each month, so we have the vast majority of our products in stock here in the UK, ready for delivery to our customers. Going forward these arrivals will continue, to ensure we maintain our stock levels.”
Continues Bruce: “With our expanding catalogue of products, and to enable us to hold even more stock in the UK, we have secured a long-term lease on a brand-new warehouse near Chesterfield which can house 35,000 pallets. This is in addition to our current warehouses. And we are strengthening our transport fleet with the purchase of new vehicles and the recruitment of additional drivers. The result will be to further improve our distribution and operating capacity, to help ensure we can continue to meet our customers’ needs.”
Left: Bruce Bell, marketing director, Gallery Direct.
Started Buying In February
“We decided to start buying in February this year as we had foreseen the stock issues and began warehousing popular lines for the run up to Christmas,” states Priya Aurora-
Crowe, co-owner of seven Lark London
stores. “Although this has interfered with our cashflow, we are certain that these measures were necessary to ensure a healthy Christmas trade.”
Above: Priya Aurora-Crowe, co-owner of Lark. Below: One of seven Lark stores.
We’ve Had To Think On Our Feet
"The current stock issues have made the past few months particularly challenging,” says Lisa
Hemingway, owner of
Chalk. “Luckily, all of our collections are designed in the UK and over a third of our products are made here so we’ve been able to keep control of that stock and fulfill demand.” She says that in order to save on freight costs, the company has had to shop around and find new places to manufacture. “We’ve also had to think on our feet and develop our range to include new styles and colours that can be made by new suppliers in different regions. Although challenging, this has allowed us to develop a more interesting and varied collection.”
She continued: “Being a small team, we’ve been able to adapt to the unfolding situation and keep things running relatively smoothly. Planning and ordering ahead has helped us to ensure that we are stocked up for Autumn/Winter. We have a good relationship with all of our stockists, which has meant that we’ve been able to manage expectations on delivery times and keep people informed along the way."
Above: Lisa Hemingway, owner, Chalk.
Continued on page 17
Above: Yarnton Home & Garden, Yarnton. Right: Gift buyer Bryony Taylor-Edwards.
We Placed Orders Early
“Shopping local and British made was always part of my buying strategy,” confirms Bryony Taylor-
Edwards, marketing manager and gift buyer
at Yarnton Home & Garden in Yarnton. “And this plan has really come into its own with this year's Christmas buy. To mitigate the stock shortages and transport delays we made sure to place orders very early in the year and ask for delivery earlier than normal. We also over ordered in many instances, as we fully expected not to receive all of our stock allocations. This was risky but again has paid off, and I am pleased to say Christmas is not cancelled! Yarnton Home & Garden has all our customers need for Christmas this year, both in store and online.”
Backed Our Instinct
“This year, the grocers and major high street chains do not have the best Christmas stock all for themselves, only to panic with four weeks to go and announce a big sale,” says Boxer Gifts’ managing director Thomas O’Brien. “We smaller companies will be nimble and trade well. We spot the trends and commit to stock - as was our only way of surviving for so many years - with nimble retailers showing their passion for product and what they do, making quick calculations to reach decisions relatively large for their size, which would take weeks or even months in a larger company. It gives them an opportunity to grab market share and grow.” He adds: “For our own opportunities, Boxer currently has good stocks of most lines, as we always do - though not as much as we’d like. Like everyone else, we’re suffering delays from Far East deliveries, which we now are mitigating by assembling some Better In My Day jigsaws in the UK. We had to make some big decisions in the summer to get behind certain lines with little consumer feedback. We did the same as many retailers are doing right now and backed our instinct.
“Golden Quarter problems can derail a seasonal businesses like Boxer Gifts, and many gift retailers across the country, as October to December is often our only profitable months. We know our product, like retailers, but that doesn’t stop us being nervous - this is not an exact science - so we won’t be completely right. We just have to be more right than wrong to survive another year. With good trading, we will have enough funds to develop more new products to see us through until Christmas ’22 sales begin again, as they always do.”
Above: Thomas O’Brien, managing director, Boxer Gifts.
Orders Were Placed During Lockdown
“We placed the majority of our Christmas orders during lockdown in January and February, mostly via Zoom, as we felt uncomfortable visiting our suppliers’ showrooms,” explains
Jo Barber, owner, No. 14 Ampthill,
Ampthill. “It was a painfully long process, but well worth it.
“As we planned to launch Christmas online on October 1, we requested early delivery dates and saw our first deliveries arrive in August. We’ve seen so many delays recently, so we kept requesting updates from our suppliers and I do think this pushed us higher up the queue. We managed to launch online with around 80% of our Christmas decorations already in stock.”
Continues Jo: “Christmas gifting was proving trickier, so we placed some very large orders which we hope will see us through to the end of the year. We’re fortunate to have an offsite storage facility and will use this as our own warehouse. By doing this, not only are we guaranteed to have the stock, but we won’t need to spend time receiving deliveries and pricing stock during our busiest months.”
