Invertia Shopping for 'Black Friday' and Christmas gifts, in the air: the blockade of China could delay deliveries

China is the factory of the world. Much of the products we consume come from there, especially if we talk about the clothes we wear every day. A market that textile giants such as Primark, Mango or Tendam are currently looking at with some concern due to the logistical problems that are occurring in the departure of goods, especially by ship, the most widely used method of transport. Problems that could affect campaigns such as 'Singles Day', Black Friday or Christmas itself.

What are you worried about? Well, two issues: the increase in costs and delivery times that could lead to collapses and breakage in the supply chain. Today there are not enough containers to transport all the goods, while in the Chinese ports the goods accumulate and there is a lack of personnel and truckers. It also occurs in American and British ports.

“The problem goes back a long way. Now there is no certainty about the delivery times or the costs of the container that will bring the garments," says the president of the Textile Trade Business Association (Acotex), Eduardo Zamácola, who warns that it will be the companies that assume the costs. high costs. H&M has already warned that this could affect their accounts.

Primark, for example, acknowledges that this outlet is already experiencing some interruptions in its supply chain, although "it is not having a general impact on stock levels at this time."

“Delays in some of our supply markets and ports due to Covid-19, along with the shipping and container crisis and global labor shortages, are contributing to this . We are working closely with our logistics partners to manage these challenges as best as possible," they point out.

Possible solutions

Far from seeming that the problem will end soon, there are those like Ikea who believe that this situation will not be solved so quickly. The Swedish chain, in statements to Bloomberg, assures that the shortage of products in its stores will continue even in 2022.

“This problem is expected to persist in the short term, even beyond Christmas,” adds Francisco Aranda, president of the Logistics and Transportation Business Organization (UNO), who advocates “eliminating ultra-dependence on China” .

For this reason, the textile giants are opting for three solutions to ensure the normal operation of the production and supply chain from Asia.

One of them -learned from the collapse caused at the start of the pandemic- is manufacturing in proximity. She happened with the masks and now it happens with the clothes. "This world transport situation has accelerated the process of reorganizing the supply structure that Mango has been carrying out for months and that is committed to increasing production in the vicinity", acknowledge company sources.

Another is to advance the orders. If the normal thing is that the merchandise from China arrives in Europe in four weeks, now another eight weeks must be added due to the blockade. In total, you have to request 12 weeks in advance, they explain from UNO.

And the last alternative is to use other means of transportation. Here Mango has also gone ahead. The textile chain is pulling the train or the truck. "In the case of the train, we have been using this medium for months, but our logistics have not been transferred to this medium because it is impossible due to capacity," Mango sources told this medium.

They are also choosing to rent containers, or increasing the use of 20' containers, or directly using the plane to transport merchandise (as Inditex has been doing for years).

Rise in prices?

The latter is more expensive, acknowledge the experts consulted by this means. Which in turn causes costs for companies to increase and margins to shrink even more. Given this situation, the big question is whether it will affect the final sale price. For the textile employers "the price cannot be transferred to the consumer."

In fact, some chains like Primark say that "Primark customers can still expect to find lots of products they love and a wide variety of choices at the same great prices as always."

Others seem to be holding up for the moment, as is the case of the Tendam group. “Since our brands are in the premium mass market segment and not in fast fashion, the company works with longer planning cycles. Because of this, we have a greater capacity to plan, which allows us to manage orders from that market of origin with longer times," say company sources.

Black Friday and Singles Day

This situation may end up affecting very important dates such as Singles Day (November 11), Black Friday (November 26) or the Christmas campaign itself . Although the employer assures that there will be no shortage, there is some concern about the delay in orders.

The head of AliExpress Marketing, Ignacio Zunzunegui, hoped that AliExpress sellers would launch initiatives so that users can receive the products at the "advisable" times for 'Singles' Day.

"All brands or products that want to be sold on November 11 must have enough accessible stock for everyone to receive it in ten, five, or three days as delivery times so that users are not affected" , said Zunzunegui in a forum organized by 'El Economista' on the impact of the lack of supply of Chinese products. "Users who buy through AliExpress will not be affected," she noted.

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