RETAIL OPERATIONS
Empty Shelves and Trucks Eight tips for dealing with out-of-stocks and other supply chain issues. BY ROY STRASBURGER
“O
h, dearest father. If my heart’s greatest desire is not fulfilled by Christmastide, surely I will perish from this earth and my ghostly remains will wander these lands for the rest of eternity.” This, or something like it, is what my then six-year-old daughter told me many years ago when she was informed that the hottest Christmas toy on the market was sold out everywhere in our fair city. The fact that there was a supply issue did not ease her pain or lessen the consumer demand element of the market economics that ran through our house. However, through heroic efforts I 16 | FMN Magazine WINTER 2022
was able to save Christmas for her that year. (By the way, the toy was never seen after the second week of January.) This was the memory I recalled when I heard that the product shortages and supply issues that we have been facing may extend through the holiday season and affect Christmas shopping. In one form or another, we have been dealing with product issues in almost all our stores. They range from not being able to get items because of actual product shortages (drink cups) to products not being delivered because of the lack of truck drivers (soft drinks and groceries). No one wants empty shelves in their
store. It obviously directly impacts sales because the items that you don’t have can’t be sold. But it also indirectly affects your sales since it gives your customer the impression that you are going out of business and the items that are left on the shelf may be old or unsalable. I thought it might be helpful to share some of the approaches that we have taken to deal with our supply issues. Communicate. The first thing you should do is talk to your supplier to find out the issues they are facing. It is in your supplier’s best interest to get items delivered to you—that is how they make their money—and they should be willing to work with you to come up with creative solutions. Understanding the problems they are facing will help you determine your response. Plan. If the supplier is having issues with transportation, plan your ordering to anticipate delivery delays. If you can only get a delivery once every two weeks rather than weekly, you need FuelsMarketNews.com
