A SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGER’S GUIDE TO GETTING THE RIGHT STOCK LEVELS
The supply chain in the furniture industry has never been an easy horse to tame. Selling chairs independently vs selling them in sets, maintaining inventory of service parts, and managing product lifecycles with slow production are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to demand planning and inventory management challenges. The e-commerce environment adds fuel to the fire as customer expectations grow. You are just a click away from closing a transaction or losing a customer to your competitor.
The pandemic has radically changed consumer behaviour and impacted various industries, resulting in extreme crests or troughs in the business world. The furniture and home improvement industry is going through the most dazing period in history. While the supply has been crippled due to the unavailability of containers and production capacity limitations-the, demand has skyrocketed, breaking records.
The change in the fundamental definition of ‘home’ layered by masses moving to larger homes in the suburbs and having more disposable income due to restricted travel and entertainment are all drivers of the triple-digit growth. However, the majority of the industry has been unable to capture and translate this enormous new appetite into revenue. In fact, most have taken the toll of bad reviews, order cancellations and dimming customer loyalty by delivering products 3-4 months late on average.