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Supply chain challenges and how to mitigate risk.

“Volatility and uncertainty in the supply chain have been two of the biggest challenges for our suppliers and retailers in the past year, with supply chain issues continuing to be disruptive,” said Jason Stuckey, General Manager, North America, Linnworks.

His panel session on supply chain challenges and how to mitigate risk was therefore one of the timeliest of Linn Academy 2021 Virtual.

“Our key challenges were getting products from the port into the hands of our customers. Everything started to backlog,” said Jarod Nickerson, CEO of Arrow Commodities. “What we ended up doing was homing in on a few different suppliers and we gained trust. I think that’s what set us apart,” he said.

“We are seeing a lot of creative thinkers really analyzing what’s happening in the business,” said Troy Graham, VP of Business Development of Descartes. “It’s about analyzing your supply chain itself, what’s working well? Who’s predictable? The second one is looking at the product catalogue – maybe I need to expand?” he said.

As well as supply chain diversification, the panel also discussed the importance of having quality manufacturers and brokers within the supply chain. “It’s going to come down to relationships,” said Nickerson. “We need to treat them as a partnership. We need to make them more like family, more like friends. When you show them you care, they want you to succeed because they succeed.”

The panel discussed various strategies to cope with the challenges, including using air freight, near-shore sourcing and investing in warehouse management. “You have to think outside of the box,” said Stuckey.