In the first of a series of articles on the ongoing shipping crisis, Anthony David, commercial director at Something Different Wholesale, talks to GiftsandHome.net about lead times, delays, increased costs and how the company is facing up to the challenges so that customers can continue to receive their stock with minimal disruption.
“The shipping crisis is definitely having an impact on our business as will be the case for many suppliers. Our lead times for receiving stock have increased by a minimum of four weeks to avoid the Red Sea route. However, we are lucky to be in a position where we can react quickly to change, and we have been able to adapt our logistics processes to minimise the impact. Since January this year, we have allowed additional lead time for goods to arrive as planned, therefore, our customers can continue to receive their stock with minimal disruption to their buying routines.
Container prices have skyrocketed recently by 300% per 40ft container which is an ongoing challenge. Being able to offer unique designs and exclusive products at competitive prices is of the utmost importance to us so we are monitoring closely.
Forward planning is key. We saw an increase in demand for seasonal items in 2023, therefore, we placed purchase orders at the end of 2023 to mitigate any risk of delays in production or shipping. Planning ahead has ensured that the shipping crisis doesn’t affect our stock levels and there’s no impact on the customer. Our full range of autumn, Halloween and Christmas ranges will be in stock by the end of July 2024. We expect high demand for seasonal items to continue in years to come, particularly advent calendars, novelty lines, and products with a purpose such as oil burners and incense burners, all of which we have expanded on for A/W 2024.
We frequently review our pricing to remain competitive. We have resisted increasing any prices since 2021 and have absorbed any increases since then. However, with shipping costs continuing to increase we may have to face the reality of adding a small price increase to a selection of products. We reduced our prices on a third of our product range to help customers manage their costs during these challenging times. By offering competitive prices, we aim to maintain long-term relationships with our customers.
We frequently offer fantastic promotions, providing our customers with the opportunity to save on over 3000 products. We continue to offer market leading services to help our customers, such as free shipping on orders over £50, next day delivery on orders placed by 4pm, and our recent addition of dispatching orders 7 days a week.
We highly recommend that gift retailers place their orders in advance for Halloween and Christmas to avoid missing out. We have some exciting new product ranges now in stock, including spooky ghosts and pumpkins for Halloween, and Christmas puddings and gingerbread men for Christmas. These on-trend products have been designed by our in-house design team and are exclusive to Something Different.”
For other companies – or retailers – who would like to comment on the impact of the shipping crisis, email GiftsandHome.net’s editor Sue Marks at sue@suemarks.co.uk
Top: Anthony David, commercial director at Something Different Wholesale.
