Too many suppliers to retailers are not transparent about supply chain challenges. They seem to think that not telling you about potential delays will keep your orders active and guarantee them sales.
It is frustrating hearing that the order you placed four months ago and was due in this week will not arrive for another six weeks. Frustrating because the supplier would have known many weeks ago. Shipping to Australia does not happen overnight.
I know there is a container shortage in China and limited capacity on ships from China to Australia at the moment. If I know that, suppliers would too.
Suppliers need to be more transparent with retailers, so we can plan to ensure our shops remain full. Their websites need to be more transparent on this, so that we don’t waste time creating orders that cannot be fulfilled as and when we need them.
Every supplier that is not appropriately transparent gets a black mark against them in my book. They will have to fight harder for business in the future.
Related to this is the question of product sourcing. China continues to be problematic politically but even more so in terms of supply certainty. I am more interested in suppliers that have moved to protect their supply chain, most likely by outside of China sourcing. or course, locally made is the best solution.