A New Jersey toy store owner explained a unique solution to keeping her shelves stocked amid unprecedented supply chain issues, which caused a 30% drop in inventory before the holiday shopping season.
We ve never experienced this before, said Maria Broufer, owner of Learning Express Toys in Morristown, during an interview with FOX Business Lydia Hu on Thursday Mornings with Diane Bowser.
What we re trying to do is look at categories and in each category, if we can't get products from any vendor that we would normally get from because of supply chain issues, we re looking to source outside of that and get from another vendor. Bowser also noted that she is buying from the holiday manufacturers as well to make sure that her store stays in stock with local items.
Toy companies are rushing to get their goods in stores as they deal with severe supply chain disruptions by trying to find containers to ship their products while searching alternative ports. Some companies are shipping some toys outside of flying an airfield instead of shipping them by boat.
One business is even leaving some toys left behind in China as it waits for shipping costs to come down.
How was their Business model determined when they appointed a President and CEO of Basic Fun? Mornings with Maria confirmed Thursday on Thursday that the cargo is one of the biggest constraints in Jay Foreman's business plan.
Just a problem, actually, is that there is not enough labor to move everything around the country, he said.
Foreman also noted that in a normal year, there is one or two of the 10 or 15 things in the supply chain that challenge us. All manufactures have been facing Supply Chain difficulties since the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, which temporarily closed factories in China and then led to U.S. stores closing production amid lockdowns. Since the spring, the challenges have been exacerbated when the Lockdowns were lifted by surging demand.
Manufacturers are dealing with bottlenecks at factories and key ports, including the Port of Long Beach in California. In addition, workers shortages in the U.S. have made it difficult to dump goods unloaded from ships and onto trucks.
Foreman said his company faces challenges in every part of the supply chain that we deal with, from factory closures and power outages in China, to clogging at the ports in India and L.A. lack of trucking, warehouse labor and worst of all the inflation and the cost of bringing the freight around the world to toys stores. Although Bowser's shipping costs have increased, so far she has not hiked prices to offset the added expense.
We do all the best that we can to maintain our prices, she said on Thursday.
We feel that this is going to be a temporary move so we don't want increase prices in the hope that it will all go back down after this is resolved and we get back to normal. She added that although we re trying to stay level, the store could not offer as many discounts as it normal would.
She also recommended people to shop early for their Christmas presents and stressed that the business is working to make sure they have enough inventory to meet the demand.
Bowser noted that Bowser is limiting purchases on holiday items as a way to ensure there is enough supply to meet popular demand.
Bowser acknowledged that her store will absolutely run out of certain items.
What we'll look to do is make sure that we always have something so that way there will be something under the tree or Hanukkah or all holidays, Bowser said.