The Tribune

Bahamian retailers yesterday said the global supply chain crisis is making them fret over whether Christmas product orders will arrive in time for the festive season.

Margo Farrington, chief marketing officer at Lorene’s Department store, told Tribune Business the retailer requires at least three to four weeks lead time to bring inventory into the country and place it on its shelves. This allows for clearing Customs, offloading, pricing and shelf placement.

She predicted she may not receive all stock before December 1, which is the deadline to have it in time for this Christmas season. Ms Farrington said: “We’re having a lot of delays, but I’m crossing my fingers that we will have stock in time for Christmas. I know a lot of our suppliers have told us to expect delays, but it’s going to be tight.

“People ideally start shopping for Christmas at the end of November. We know it takes a while with shipping to get here. So we need to have it in by December 1. We’re trying to do our best to deal with the prices, but our vendors have also gone up on their prices. It’s not just shipping, but it’s also product has gone up. So we’re dealing with a lot.”

Multiple factors triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic are responsible for the worldwide backlogs and delays. Labour shortages at US ports have delayed the offloading of containerised goods, while a similar lack of heavy goods vehicle drivers is impacting the haulage industry and causing price spikes there.

With the demand unleashed by the end of COVID-19 lockdowns outstripping supply, and manufacturers dealing with order backlogs, shipping containers have also been hard to obtain coming out of the Chinese market.

Jack Moree, owner/operator of Sandy’s Department Store, added: “The problem is container prices have gone up so high to about 400 percent, so it makes it difficult. But other than that we’re doing okay.”

Asked if consumers should expect higher prices this Christmas season, Mr Moree said: “Despite container prices, we will try to keep our prices as low as we can. Some items we had before and we’re not going to market any differently, not now and not this year.”

Pia Farmer, owner and marketing director for Customs Computers, said: “I think everybody’s experiencing some back orders and shipping delays, and I can’t say that we’re not, but we seem to be coping with it.

“Plus we’ve just opened a new store in the Caves Village and that’s doing very well. We’re getting ready for Christmas and marketing is set, we’re just waiting for a good Christmas season.”