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Dealing With Supply Chain Issues

Posted Jul 29th 2021

Supply chain shortages and delays across the world have created hurdles for retail store owners that they’ve never faced before. From new surcharges to running out of stock on various products, store owners have had to learn to be adaptable like never before.

Terrie Killian, owner of Something Special in Midland, North Carolina, said one of the biggest ways supply chain shortages have affected her store is that her ordering patterns have changed — she’s ordering more often. She said she doesn’t think there’s a go-to strategy when trying to combat these delays, but she’s learned to be flexible. “I’m just doing the best I can, if I get low on something I try to order as quickly as I can to plan ahead,” Terrie said. “So, if there is a delay, it’s not going to put me completely out of something. I just try to keep up with what I need.”

Alternatively, Ruth Schlabach from Berlin Village Gift Barn in Berlin, Ohio said the biggest way supply chain delays and shortages have been affecting her store is the surcharges. “We’ve probably been most effected by surcharges and freight charges,” she said. “We are a company that’s quite well stocked, we keep back stock in our warehouse, so we’ve kind of been fortunate in that way. We’ve had some real basic things, like candles, that we couldn’t get. But then what we did is we just went on to the next thing — we’ve got so much that we can kind of replace it.”

Terrie said she thinks customers understand the issues that retail stores are facing, because nearly all industries are facing similar roadblocks. “The majority of customers — and I’ve been trying to keep people updated on that kind of information with my weekly emails — I think they see it everywhere,” she said. “It’s not just with a retail store, but with the grocery store, or Walmart or wherever. They’re seeing the same thing everywhere. I’m sure it’s frustrating on their side to not be able just to walk in and pick up what they normally could.”

Ruth echoed this sentiment, saying that her customers haven’t shown any frustration towards her store for the delays and shortages. “They hear enough about it on the news,” Ruth said. “Since reopening after Covid, we have been so busy, we’re so beyond what we are normally this time of year. Some things you have to price higher because of freight and surcharges, but I think people just realize that’s how it is, they don’t give us a lot of grief.”

Ruth said that looking forward, because of the uncertainty of when the supply chain is going to be back to normal, she’s going to have to be flexible and go with the flow. “I think the way that we have to buy might change, we’re looking at all kinds of different options, because I know that we have already not bought things that we used to because they’re twice as much in price — we know we can’t sell them,” she said. “That may change, but somehow we’re going to have to get used to it.”

Terrie had a similar view of how these delays and shortages will affect the future of her store. “We’ve really never combatted anything like this before,” she said. “So, it may cause us to order a lot of things differently, but I think it’s too early to tell right now.”

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