In February diamond began to see the impact of Covid 19 on the supply chain of our fulfilment clients who sourced their products from China. In the early stages they ended up with an initial backlog of sales and consequently some unhappy clients, impatient for delivery. Well, we are the Prime generation, right! Then when lockdown hit in March SO many of them sold out within days or weeks having seen in some cases a 1000% increase in sales overnight. So this missed out on potentially life-changing sales. Luckily many of them have now ordered and have goods back in stock – gym gear, nail products, paddleboards, electronics, alcohol-free drinks – demand is far outstripping supply.
In the last three months the supply chain has changed – it’s had to. No longer is it about streamlining, reducing stock, and shortening delivery to keep products reactive to the market, keeping capital investment to a minimum, a trend seen since the 1970s and 1980s. The global earthquake that has been Covid 19 has shown that you just can’t rely on the stock you need for the next six weeks demand. You have to budget for delay, and opportunity, because with all this uncertainty you have to gamble on a variety of potentials – your plan A, B & C in terms of stock needed to ensure delivery, keep clients satisfied and make sure that if you have disruption in supply or a massive upturn in demand you have what you need to fulfil it.
Take it from us – we have seen 40ft containers of paddleboards cleared out over a weekend, 900 electronic items presold in two days and a weight gym that went from selling five a day at peak before Christmas to sell 300 a day as we went into lockdown. If you are in the key sectors of anything home, health, beauty and entertainment, and you get your marketing right, 2020 will be the year to make a fortune….as long as you have plenty of kit in stock. With diamond’s 25 local warehouses to store and despatch your goods you don’t have to worry about fulfilling demand – you can leave that to us. But be sure to build in contingency levels of stock – because less is no longer more.
