COVID-19 Challenge for Global Supply Chain
It’s not a secret, epidemic measures significantly influenced our routine. Every average consumer observed empty shelves in stores and went on lacking the basic things. Delivery took longer time than usual and might not have happened at all.
But not only customers suffered from modifications in their habitual lifestyle. It affected the whole supply chain starting with manufacturing. Factories work has been put on hold, ports have been closed, flights have been prohibited. At this rate it was difficult to invent new non-contact shipping methods to reach a final consumer. As a result, every unprepared for such a turn of events merchant experienced great losses.
Anyhow, every conscious seller who lacked “Plan B” came to conclusion: diversification is his salvation.
Diversify Manufacturing. Big part of sellers has Chinese suppliers. And as quarantine has started, shipments from China were impossible. In case these sellers had another inventory stock, let’s say in the USA, it would become a good way out of this emergency situation and would solve a problem of delayed shipping. In a word, the more inventory sources you have, the readier you are to survive the crisis. What else is important, usually manufacturing supply chain is the most sensitive, since it will be under disruption consequences longer than the crisis itself lasted.
Diversify Selling. As stay-at-home time came, most traditional stores had to be closed. Only those entrepreneurs, who in addition had eCommerce websites or invested in marketplaces, succeeded. By the way, Marketplaces, like Amazon, became a good choice for not yet recognized brands to be promoted, which was a positive insight for some aspiring vendors. Anyway, no one can predict what global disruption may happen next, and having an online store still doesn’t guarantee complete protection. The best thing is to evaluate all possible threats for your business, not only world-wide pandemic. For instance, upcoming data privacy and security issues deserve attention as well, for it may also bring certain changes in digital business management.
Diversify Distribution. As practice shows, two previous points are not enough for business backups. Amazon vendors, who depended only on Fulfillment by Amazon, turned out to be cut off when Amazon decided to suspend FBA. Even when they had extra inventory sources, sellers were unable to deliver their products to the audience. In case they dealt with other fulfillment services, like FedEx Fulfilment, vendors would have avoided the worst case scenario.
To sum up, the tiny virus served us a useful tool to consider prevention measures from now on and paid our attention to the thought “Who knows, what will happen next?” Spare strategy is always a step to stability and business well-being. Read this article to see how to extend your business boundaries. And celebrate diversity!
