Supply Chain Issues And Your Promotional Merchandise Orders

Panoramic shot of the port center

Aug 30, 2021 | Merchandise Trends

The supply chain disruption has been in the news for quite some time now. It has impacted many industries across the board, and with companies reopening and events starting to take place, there has been an influx in the demand of branded merchandise, causing a whole new set of challenges for promotional merchandise suppliers. 

Right now, we are experiencing critical inventory shortages that are impacting our customers.

Supply Chain Factors Affecting Promotional Products

Both overseas and domestic manufacturing are experiencing all kind of issues that affect production.  Inventory shortages, reduced labor forces, fuel price increases, raw material cost increases, and transportation delays are the norm these days. In addition to that, there are bottlenecks at the ports that are holding up the restocking of goods. 

These supply chain issues, which affect all promotional product manufacturers, don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. 

Plan Your Holiday Business Gifts Now

With a busy schedule and so much on your plate, it’s easy to put off sourcing your company’s business gifts you don’t need at the moment. Especially if you are one of our clients and got used to last-minute orders delivered in one week or even less. We can no longer do that…

Holiday business gifts often involve high levels of customization, packaging, and drop shipping. Each of these steps have their challenges in a “normal” year, but now there is an unpredictable delay at every level of the process, caused by the supply chain issues.

By planning your holiday gifts now, you will be able to get what you want, the way you want, and delivered on time. 

Be Open To Having Several Swag Options at Hand

There was a time when we presented you with options, you picked your favorite one, and shortly thereafter your products of choice were delivered. 

But with the ongoing inventory shortages, it is not uncommon to check inventory today, get the order ready and submit tomorrow, and find that the product is no longer in stock. Even worse, find out there is no stock after a delivery date was given. 

For this reason, we are recommending our clients to pick 2 or 3 products to keep as backups. 

Stock On Branded Items For Internal Use

Chances are you keep certain stock of branded items at hand for internal use. These can include office supplies such as branded pens, note pads, lanyards, mouse pads, as well as general giveaways such as hand sanitizers, bags, drinkware, etc. 

Whether in your company store or in your supply closet, this is a good time to run an inventory check of those frequently used branded products and get restocked to make sure you have these brathem when needed. 

The Point: Plan Way Ahead And You’ll Be Fine

The most effective way to mitigate the impact of longer lead times, inventory shortages and increasing costs, is to plan way ahead for upcoming events, end of the year business gifts, and special branding projects Plan to place your orders at least 4 weeks in advance if they’re not produced overseas.  For those, you’ll need at least 8-10 weeks.  

We Have Your Back

As all these challenges have developed, our team has been proactive in keeping in close contact with our partner factories so we can stay on top of stock availability, Made in the USA products that can be produced faster, as well as alternatives to offer to our clients.

Get in touch and we’ll work with you in getting your merchandise orders planned so you can have what you need without any hassles.

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