WEBVTT

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Everyone welcome to this webinar.

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I am Jennifer torticollis Dawkins, a senior reporter at Insider

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covering small business.

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For the next hour, will be talking about everything businesses

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need to know about.

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Navigating Supply chains, including how to adopt and tips on how

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to prepare your company heading into the new year.

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Today. We have three panelist joining us who will lend their

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expertise to the topic.

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Then we'll turn it over to our audience for Q&A.

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And on that note, if anyone has a question for panelist

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during this time, please feel free to drop it into the q-and-a

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and we'll get those at the end.

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Now, let's meet our panelists or see.

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How is Douglas Kent.

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He is the Executive Vice President of strategy and alliances

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at the association for Supply Chain management.

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Next. We have Gwen.

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Jimmere. She is the founder and CEO of Hair Care brand naturalicious.

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And finally, we have Nicole Lineback raila.

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She is the founder and publisher of retail minded.

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So to start, let's talk a little bit about some of the issues.

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We've been seeing this year and Supply chains.

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We've had major Factory shutdowns, a blockage in the Suez Canal

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cargo ships piling up a few major parts in California

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shortages of nearly everything from Lumber, two couches you name

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it? So I want to start with Gwen.

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First of all, what supply chain issues has your business

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space, this year that we've experienced supply chain issues,

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in every aspect we have for the past eight years,

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been a primarily Hair Care brand that sold in like major retail,

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like Ulta and Sally Beauty and places like that,

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but we found that during the pandemic and Beyond with this Supply

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paint issue, is been pivotal for us to no pun intended to give

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it into other categories of you.

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So we are no longer just a hair care brand.

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We are actually all over lifestyle Beauty Brands in from a customer

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facing side. That was very, very much and natural organic

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progression. But from our side, a lot of that was due to the

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poor. Watching challenges and needing to diversify our product offerings.

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So that we're not solely relying upon,

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Just Hair Care, are ingredients in our raw materials and I packaging

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come from all over the world.

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So we get things from Asia, we get things from Argentina.

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We get them from Africa, and obviously things from the United

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States. And so, by diversifying it by diversifying our offerings.

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It actually helps to whether a lot of the,

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the challenges that we would have been facing.

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Heavy only been here here.

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That's very interesting.

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Thank you. And Nicole.

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You talk to store owners all the time.

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What are some of the most common issues they've seen this year?

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Because certainly, they vary across different categories

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of small businesses that they're struggling with being more

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precise in order to be more profitable with their orders.

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And other words, traditionally, small businesses, my say,

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okay. I'm going to allocate for 100.

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Units of something.

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But if there's 100 units, sell out,

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and they want to reorder it.

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They can always get it now.

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So they're having to look further ahead than they ever have

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before. And even using historic data though,

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doesn't always help them plan for the holidays and the general

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supply issues at hand.

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So what they're doing is having to get creative,

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of course, but their goal is to be profitable.

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So do to those challenging, their starting to look at outside

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vendors and they're starting to make alternative choices

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than a historically, have because they anticipate,

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there's going to be a supply challenge ahead of them.

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And another challenge for retailers, vertically, small businesses

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in general, is that they're struggling to capture time with

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their vendors, to make necessary changes to happen,

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more so than ever, they need their handheld from some of these

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vendors having conversations so they can be more precise.

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But small businesses don't always get that same attention

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as larger clients, so they're frustrated because a lot of House

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of bass were quest to welcome those resources into products,

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into their own business or supplies into the residences.

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They're not getting the attention that the necessary want from

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the actual vendor as well.

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So that's a whole you need challenge in itself.

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Yeah, that's great.

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Thank you. And so Douglas, can you explain to us kind of a little

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bit about what is causing so many of these supply chain issues.

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But there's so many.

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So the cause and effect relationship is pretty strong.

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So I mean, it starts a lot from just the the lingering

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impacts of the pain down, right?

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So things when asked you the production process really shut

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down very quickly because of lackluster, demand,

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certain items Etc.

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When you turn off the top, turning it back on it,

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right? So and also from a demand and Supply prospective

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things got really asked you.

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So we had unanticipated areas of Demand,

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right? So if you take a look,

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Example, during the start of the pandemic,

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the automotive demands tanks basically.

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And so we shut down production, very effective that meant that

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the expectation of the needs from an automotive manufacturer,

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for example, around the ship Supply.

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You know, it looks like a massive decline in demand,

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but it's the same point in time.

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We all started working from home.

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Right? And we had to have digital connectivity.

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We didn't have to say, which drove chip demand way up unnatural

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influence. The man cycle for raw materials has been mentioned

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in other things that we we work at the end.

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Nicole Point history isn't always the best predictor of the future,

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right? So we had all this craziness around the map and then

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suddenly Supply shifted again, right and then you know in essence

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then nothing came in Balance.

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So we ended up having to get really Creative about how we do shipments

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or who we Source from, are we had suppliers that could be ramped

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up to meet our demands of subjects on the demand side,

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and on the supply side we had was just a lot of training.

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And then you couple that with what happened relatives Transportation,

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right in this is very impactful.

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So, just finding available capacity is a problem,

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not the least of which of course is capacity.

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But also because now if you take a look at where we were importing,

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Gwen's importing packaging from China, as an example that cost

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of a shipment that container shipment from China to the US and

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asked what it was.

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Imagine the impact of that costing.

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So I have all of these problems that are coupled together,

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layered on top of us and it really has become a struggle

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and when is I'm sure we'll talk about later.

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Isn't going to have an answer in the next few months or weeks.

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Let's hope in the next year, you put a win from here care to

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also. Branching out into skin care.

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Can you tell us a little bit more about that transition

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and how you did use that time to Pivot to make sure that you

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were, you know, navigating a supply chain issues.

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Yeah. I wish that my operations manager is here because he is

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really the hero of this story.

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But, yeah, I mean, for us, luckily,

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we have a really, really close relationship with our customers

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and they see me, they see the team,

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they know all of us and so were able to go to them easily

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in to say, hey, what is the next thing that you want from us?

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You know, and so moving into skincare was a very natural

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transition. We actually lost one thing care product last year,

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that was just supposed to be a one-off sort of thing and then

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that went so well that this year will be started looking

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at our holiday sales.

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And normally we start scheduling holiday sales planning

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to for early Q3 and we realize movies of 2022.

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We got to start that really cute too because we just didn't,

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we thought we had enough time but it just simply was not enough

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when we started dealing with the once you start dealing with

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the supply chain.

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So again back to the Skin Care was the matter of asking your

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customers. What do you want?

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They told us.

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Hey, we want an expansion of the skin care line.

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Okay, great, so

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We were able to tap into our manufacturing Partners.

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We also make us some supper, so,

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and make that happen.

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But even that from a manufacturing Sandpoint weather so bad.

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It was the packaging, like Doug mentioned.

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It was a package in getting things from different places,

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the pricing of everything going up, you know,

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at some point, you can't continue to absorb these exponentially larger

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costs and we found ourselves in August having sexy raise

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all of our prices about 10%, which is a pretty steep charge.

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But our customers they brought they rocked with us and and they're

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still buying and so that's really great.

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But it's, it's kind of a Bittersweet thing because like,

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right, we have more money, but on the other hand,

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you know, we're also not is not benefiting us are promised

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a point. Where do those or being the rest of those costs?

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And we seen that with other lines that we would move into to like

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body care. Luckily, body cares a lot less expensive than skin

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care and hair care.

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So again, Diversify their supply chains to Memphis depay chance,

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I'm sorry. Revenue streams to ensure that we can continue

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to service a client in the way that she wants to be serviced.

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But the same time remain.

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Highly prized. Great and yeah really quickly.

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Could you kind of explain to us what countries you put like

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get different products from or supplies from like what were

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some of the ones you saw most impacted this year?

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Yeah. The biggest thing I will say for us is probably tied up

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from a packaging standpoint.

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We do a lot of value-added item.

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So let's say I'm buy this entire line.

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Get get buns thinks you're lying.

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Get a Jade roller for your face free.

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Something like that.

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Right? Well, we don't make me so getting those in was was very

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slow. You don't.

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We were being told by our partners in China particularly

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that it was going to take the like 60 to 90 days to get

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some of these things in

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And so what did that cause us to do while we were looking

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at the pictures online and the photos and the videos of things

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being stuck in the Suez Canal to your point earlier,

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and it was like, we can't. That's

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not going to work for us.

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So what are we doing?

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Now? We have to absorb the cost of the air shipping,

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which is three or four times as much as as the the,

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the boat shipping.

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So yeah, it was probably the hardest,

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the most time-consuming, the most expensive, but we all forget

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things, from South America from Africa to.

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But even though Africa is further parts of Africa,

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where we get it from the age of

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Age of us up the most difficult for sure.

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And so Nicole, how are these issues changing the Way businesses,

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you've talked to Source their products.

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Now, you know, what's interesting Jennifer because what we've

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seen is that so many businesses for tickly again,

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small businesses are dependent upon things, such as trade shows,

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which is where they have gone to,

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to seek that inventory and identified vendors.

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And then connect with those suppliers who are bringing it over

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or at least managing those Logistics from China and other places.

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So what happened was they struggle to actually first discover

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inventory and second actually capture that Bender attention

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and make a transaction with them.

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Okay? To, unless they already had established relationships,

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a lot of small businesses, truly didn't know where to turn.

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So, the good news here, is that a lot of these companies

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had something either already active that they were able to

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Accelerate from an online Marketplace for B2B.

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So for example, let's look at AMC Market that is one of the nation's

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largest consumer. Trade shows.

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It's operated by Emma expositions, which operates a variety

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of different trade shows in the US and New York.

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Now is one of the Outdoor Retailer show for example,

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and so ASD was held in Vegas twice a year trying to come at

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it. Now in 2022 will continue to be twice a year.

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And long story short.

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They were able to actually create a destination for their existing

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database of attendees.

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To say, hey, come on line, will connect you with our vendors

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and suppliers, cuz you have to remember Trisha.

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Operator has not only the intended audience to support,

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which is your small businesses in your retailers,

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but also those vendors and suppliers.

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So they were bringing connectivity.

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I think that's the goal here was connectivity throughout

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covid. How can you keep that alive?

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There are, of course, other avenues for that.

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Already about Shana quite a few times and we know that a lot

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comes when they're one of the many places to find those products

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and inventory is from alibaba.com.

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So they really narrowed in with a small business category

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in specifics and you know over this past year.

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I've done a lot of research on what they've offered small businesses.

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And I've just been so thrilled to see that they are taking

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efforts to truly cater to that unique audience.

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So that's been another thing that small businesses who are historically,

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maybe either unaware or maybe even nervous for lack of better

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words. They have finally connected to this audience because

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they tightened their communication level through this digital

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opportunity. So Gwen you mentioned that you use video sometimes

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to sorcerer in inventory digitally online.

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So we're seeing these online marketplaces that used to have

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in show experiences really Elevate how small businesses

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and Brands can connect spiritually.

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So that was definitely something to stop.

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The one thing.

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I will say on that.

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Destinations still look forward to bringing those physical

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experiences again. So I don't think it's going to eliminate.

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I think it's just going to allow for a hybrid experience

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as we can.

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Take me to Krogers.

00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:35.200
Awesome. So now that we understand some of the latest developments.

00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.100
Let's get into what businesses can do now,

00:14:38.100 --> 00:14:41.700
especially during the holiday shopping season last year.

00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:44.900
We saw a lots of issues, many retailers ran out of stock.

00:14:44.900 --> 00:14:48.900
We had worker shortages that cause severe shipping delays.

00:14:48.900 --> 00:14:51.500
And a lot of people didn't receive their gifts until months

00:14:51.500 --> 00:14:52.300
after the holidays.

00:14:52.300 --> 00:14:56.100
So Nicole start with, you know, what are the top concerns

00:14:56.100 --> 00:14:58.100
for businesses you're seeing this holiday season.

00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:05.500
So, you know, I talked before about Bender connectivity,

00:15:05.500 --> 00:15:08.400
but now it's customer connectivity and transparency.

00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:11.700
They want to make sure that the customer fully understands the

00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:13.000
challenges that exist.

00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:17.300
We all watch mainstream Media or wherever we might turn to 4 news,

00:15:17.300 --> 00:15:20.900
but they want to localize that and personalized back so that

00:15:20.900 --> 00:15:23.700
they feel connected to their customer and their customer

00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:24.900
feel connected to die.

00:15:24.900 --> 00:15:27.900
So, that's a really hot and concern for small businesses,

00:15:27.900 --> 00:15:30.300
the season. They want to make sure that they

00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:35.600
Share honest, real-time information, as well as the limitations

00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:36.200
they might have.

00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:40.200
For example, we've just received or this is coming free order

00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:42.800
yours. Now. They want to make sure they're communicating

00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:46.800
store audience and we're seeing each other small businesses

00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:50.900
of all different kinds in General, sell in advance of delivery.

00:15:50.900 --> 00:15:53.900
Okay, because they're nervous that they're not going to capture

00:15:53.900 --> 00:15:57.300
consumer dollars. That is a huge concern of small businesses.

00:15:57.300 --> 00:16:00.700
They're wary that customers have already started which we know

00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:03.900
cuz data tells us, they've already started holiday shopping,

00:16:03.900 --> 00:16:06.600
but what if they're imagery hasn't arrived,

00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:09.900
and they're counting on that inventory to help make their holiday

00:16:09.900 --> 00:16:12.900
sales. So they're actually saying, you know what? I

00:16:12.900 --> 00:16:15.400
better be proactive about this, so it's not only concern,

00:16:15.400 --> 00:16:16.800
but they are being proactive about it.

00:16:16.800 --> 00:16:20.600
Another thing to think about is the fear of return.

00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:24.300
Okay, return revenue is such a big conversation.

00:16:24.300 --> 00:16:27.400
It's always been an issue but more so than ever,

00:16:27.400 --> 00:16:29.800
there's challenges around that again to supply

00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:32.800
One of the consequences are returns.

00:16:32.800 --> 00:16:34.300
How can we avoid concerns?

00:16:34.300 --> 00:16:36.400
What limitations can we put on a purchase?

00:16:36.400 --> 00:16:37.800
So we don't have returned.

00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:40.800
But as a consumer yourself you might say well I'm not going

00:16:40.800 --> 00:16:41.400
to make a purchase.

00:16:41.400 --> 00:16:46.600
If I can't make her particularly if it's so between the return

00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:50.100
and the general customer communication and the vendor challenges.

00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:54.300
These are all in our concerns for Holiday small businesses.

00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:59.600
Wright and Douglas from a logistical standpoint.

00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:03.100
How can businesses plan for the unexpected this holiday season?

00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.000
Unfortunately, if they haven't planned for it by now,

00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:08.700
it's too late.

00:17:08.700 --> 00:17:14.100
So I think a lot of the things that that Nicole had mentioned.

00:17:14.100 --> 00:17:16.400
So, let's let's start with that.

00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.200
Start with the sentiment around inventory, right?

00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:22.900
Cuz this is really changed.

00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:28.800
I mean, a lot of businesses small businesses and maybe he has

00:17:28.800 --> 00:17:32.000
practice. Let's call it a lead on a stove.

00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.300
Inventory is just in time because affordably you you need to keep

00:17:36.300 --> 00:17:37.700
tight controls on inventory.

00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:40.400
But of course, you know an out-of-stock.

00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.900
We're not on the Shelf, is not a great thing to send.

00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:45.300
It doesn't allow for revenue and small businesses.

00:17:45.300 --> 00:17:48.400
We get a lot of potential switching if it's not in stock.

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:53.100
So the sentiment around him and see.

00:17:53.100 --> 00:17:55.000
So, it's moved from Justin.

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:56.800
Time will be bugs, jit today.

00:17:56.800 --> 00:17:58.800
I see just in case I think so.

00:17:58.800 --> 00:18:03.700
I am seeing a lot of people that are attempting to read.

00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:08.300
Strategy in order to head to the back because again holiday

00:18:08.300 --> 00:18:09.900
is a big season time.

00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:14.400
If inventory is not on the Shelf then there's no Revenue

00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:17.900
to be reproduced and obviously that's concerned.

00:18:17.900 --> 00:18:21.800
So, you know, you have two ways it the trade-off in pots,

00:18:21.800 --> 00:18:23.600
right? Do I have potentially more inventory?

00:18:23.600 --> 00:18:27.900
I'll take a longer time to sell off or that I might have to

00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:28.700
do it later.

00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:32.100
If your retailer for sample and in what what's the,

00:18:32.100 --> 00:18:35.000
what's the cost to do?

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.400
Other extraordinary things like a dungeon?

00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:38.400
See in my inventory?

00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:45.000
Like when are ship a product, rather than ocean greatest

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.500
because I need to restore and protect my ability to make the

00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:51.400
sale. So a lot of those things are happening,

00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:52.400
just a heads up.

00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.300
See? See a lot of assessment of what is the,

00:18:55.300 --> 00:18:57.400
what is the risk that I have?

00:18:57.400 --> 00:18:58.500
What is the medication?

00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:01.500
I could take alternative sourcing.

00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:04.900
For example, if I don't think I'm going to get the Product.

00:19:04.900 --> 00:19:06.400
I'm going to get this product right,

00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.800
and that happens both at the consumer level as well as the business

00:19:09.800 --> 00:19:14.700
level. So you see these traditional concepts of lean just-in-time

00:19:14.700 --> 00:19:16.000
inventory, getting thrown out.

00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.500
The window are number one, way to mitigate risk is build redundancy.

00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:22.600
And the number way, number one way to build redundancy

00:19:22.600 --> 00:19:24.400
is to build in it.

00:19:26.600 --> 00:19:28.100
That makes sense.

00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:29.400
Yeah, and Gwen.

00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:31.600
What is natural is just doing this holiday season?

00:19:31.600 --> 00:19:35.800
What ways are you kind of handling any shipping delays that

00:19:35.800 --> 00:19:41.400
come up with that earlier where it's just getting in front

00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:43.900
of the consumer and being transparent and saying,

00:19:43.900 --> 00:19:45.300
look, we're having supply chain issues.

00:19:45.300 --> 00:19:46.400
You see the pictures here.

00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:51.600
You see him on CNN, MSNBC are not exempt from those and so just

00:19:51.600 --> 00:19:54.400
being transparent and saying, hey, you're going to order this.

00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.400
This is going to ship by this date.

00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:58.600
What I found is that customers really want to be communicated

00:19:58.600 --> 00:20:00.300
with. That's really what it boils down to.

00:20:00.300 --> 00:20:03.100
They want to know what's happening with their package.

00:20:03.100 --> 00:20:04.900
If you can get in front of it before, they

00:20:04.900 --> 00:20:08.400
have to email you or contact your live chat,

00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.500
or call your office to find out where that they're pretty

00:20:11.500 --> 00:20:15.300
much. Okay, the only time we've ever gotten into any sort of challenges

00:20:15.300 --> 00:20:18.300
with customers about where packages are, it's when they didn't

00:20:18.300 --> 00:20:18.800
know ahead of time.

00:20:18.800 --> 00:20:22.000
And so even now we said, hey pre-order,

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:25.300
like Nicole said, free order this bundle and it's going to ship

00:20:25.300 --> 00:20:26.000
in January.

00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:29.300
You know, when you're making your holiday purchases that you're

00:20:29.300 --> 00:20:30.300
not going to get it by Christmas.

00:20:30.300 --> 00:20:32.200
You're not going to get it until January.

00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:35.000
There's other things, were will say, you know,

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:38.200
this is going to ship in mid-December and it will arrive by Christmas.

00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:42.300
So they know if they can actually have that item for the Christmas

00:20:42.300 --> 00:20:45.100
gifting or for themselves, but we're just trying to be very,

00:20:45.100 --> 00:20:46.700
very transparent, and let them know ahead of time.

00:20:46.700 --> 00:20:51.300
And in addition to that are forgetful sometimes,

00:20:51.300 --> 00:20:55.900
write. So even if they know that the purchase at the time of purchase

00:20:55.900 --> 00:20:58.200
that they're not getting this by certain time,

00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:01.600
they're bombarded with media messages and marketing messages,

00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:04.700
all day long is very easy for them to get some food for them

00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:09.000
to forget. So you end up experiencing them emailing you.

00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:09.900
Hey, where's my package?

00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:13.100
And so what we've started to do this year is just creating

00:21:13.100 --> 00:21:14.400
a whole automated flow.

00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:18.300
Once you purchase one type of item or something within a certain. Of

00:21:18.300 --> 00:21:19.400
time or emailing.

00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:22.000
You, every may be 7 days and just saying,

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.700
hey a quick, reminder, your package that you ordered is going

00:21:24.700 --> 00:21:26.100
to sip on this day, so that there is no.

00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:28.500
Room for error is no room for confusion.

00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:30.600
And if they do happen to email us,

00:21:30.600 --> 00:21:31.700
we have that chamber.

00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:32.200
We can see.

00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:32.900
Okay, I can see that.

00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:35.500
You open that email, at least you were communicated

00:21:35.500 --> 00:21:37.500
with, so that's how our customer service team.

00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:40.900
Get a lot of any issues that might come up.

00:21:40.900 --> 00:21:43.200
And also, just make sure the consumer is well-informed.

00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:50.600
Interesting. Yeah, and Nicole, what other ways have some business

00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:54.100
has been kind of making the most of the spinal sales time.

00:21:54.100 --> 00:21:56.300
You know, what can I do, if,

00:21:56.300 --> 00:21:58.200
maybe they sell out of the product early,

00:21:58.200 --> 00:21:58.900
for example.

00:22:01.800 --> 00:22:05.800
Small business owner is being a child and I think that a small

00:22:05.800 --> 00:22:07.800
business operators and decision-makers.

00:22:07.800 --> 00:22:10.300
You need to remember that that you for the most part.

00:22:10.300 --> 00:22:13.300
Are your own boss or you probably have a direct line to your

00:22:13.300 --> 00:22:16.700
MBA without many many layers of what a traditional corporate

00:22:16.700 --> 00:22:21.300
brand might. So take advantage of that agile opportunity

00:22:21.300 --> 00:22:25.900
and start signal use communication as a way to converse

00:22:25.900 --> 00:22:29.800
with your customers and social media email marketing in-store

00:22:29.800 --> 00:22:32.600
signage. You want to make sure you look at all the destinations

00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:34.400
a customer might land.

00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:36.300
Including by the way, online review sites,

00:22:36.300 --> 00:22:37.300
such as Yelp.

00:22:37.300 --> 00:22:41.800
Fun fact, more customers go to Yelp for retail shopping,

00:22:41.800 --> 00:22:43.600
then they do restaurant searching.

00:22:43.600 --> 00:22:46.900
So, you know, don't overlook those online review sites,

00:22:46.900 --> 00:22:50.200
either, and the quality of the information to share with your

00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:55.800
customers back to customers and businesses during the holidays,

00:22:55.800 --> 00:22:58.400
be a child communicate with them.

00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:00.900
Honestly, we discussed that would also say,

00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:01.200
hey

00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:05.300
Budget because customers right now, know, there is challenge

00:23:05.300 --> 00:23:07.200
the supply. They might say, you know,

00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.200
what, I have twenty-five dollars is $200.

00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:16.300
I thinking of you and how you can communicate your customers.

00:23:16.300 --> 00:23:21.000
Here are best $25 options here about $50 options or 200 on top

00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:27.100
of mine, doing the shopping for them,

00:23:27.100 --> 00:23:30.100
the frustration of saying, as a consumer,

00:23:30.100 --> 00:23:32.100
I know I can't get any more of this.

00:23:32.100 --> 00:23:32.900
I waited too long.

00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:36.900
It's sold out or whatever that challenge might be as a business.

00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:40.600
You can give them different ideas that complements our budget.

00:23:40.600 --> 00:23:42.400
So I definitely think that's one thing you can do.

00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:46.100
When you mentioned to a lot of customers are forgetful.

00:23:46.100 --> 00:23:50.700
Well, customers are also very forgiving right now because

00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:53.600
of these Supply change challenges that we seen,

00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:59.300
we live in a new era and the consumer covid customer is at the

00:23:59.300 --> 00:24:01.300
consumer covid, virus to say,

00:24:01.700 --> 00:24:04.600
Is a lot different than they used to be two years ago.

00:24:04.600 --> 00:24:08.400
Okay, so we want to leverage that sentiment as well.

00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:12.700
So for example, sometimes it's not about the supply of what

00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:15.100
you have with the preference of how they pay.

00:24:15.100 --> 00:24:19.200
So for example, buy now pay later options such as we see with

00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.300
companies like afterpay or klarna.

00:24:21.300 --> 00:24:23.900
Those are really exciting for a lot of consumers.

00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:26.400
Budgets are different than they've ever been for many customers.

00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:30.400
The holidays and general bring a different budgets to people.

00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.900
So start to promote those details as well because they could

00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:35.800
capture a whole new audience for you.

00:24:35.800 --> 00:24:38.700
Okay. So another words speak outside the box,

00:24:38.700 --> 00:24:40.800
get creative with your marketing.

00:24:40.800 --> 00:24:43.200
You might say, Okay, $25 options and so forth,

00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.700
and make sure there's that using that a dial opportunity

00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:51.700
as a small business leader so that you can optimize the season.

00:24:51.700 --> 00:24:53.300
Rather than accept those challenges.

00:24:53.300 --> 00:24:56.500
You just going over this hurdle and making new opportunities

00:24:56.500 --> 00:24:57.000
along the way.

00:24:58.800 --> 00:25:01.000
Awesome and Douglas.

00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:03.400
How can businesses handle shipping delays?

00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:06.700
So, you know, should they even be giving estimated Ship by dates

00:25:06.700 --> 00:25:07.200
things like that?

00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:13.700
I'm absolutely going back to what when was mentioning,

00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:17.400
right? And that's all around transparency.

00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:20.400
Right? And I think Nicole summed it up by saying,

00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:25.700
I think our have a different sentiment about that right now.

00:25:25.700 --> 00:25:27.400
I think that they are more forgiving,

00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.300
but they're not forgiving if you don't provide transparency.

00:25:30.300 --> 00:25:32.300
So this is super important.

00:25:32.300 --> 00:25:34.900
So if there is going to be a delay,

00:25:34.900 --> 00:25:36.400
they don't like two piece of pie,

00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:40.100
right? So this is where technology really comes into play.

00:25:40.100 --> 00:25:42.500
The ability to keep them.

00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:47.700
Informed email them stata says, in an email them if there is a

00:25:47.700 --> 00:25:50.400
change in that estimated date of Sacre,

00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:54.700
but the same follows through in in the balance of the supply

00:25:54.700 --> 00:25:57.700
chain, right? So, in order to provide that information,

00:25:57.700 --> 00:26:02.100
we have to have visibility throughout the entire site,

00:26:02.100 --> 00:26:06.000
right? So that also from a shipping responsibility,

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.800
standpoint means, you need to be very careful.

00:26:08.300 --> 00:26:10.700
About your vendors of choice, right?

00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:13.500
And this is a particular struggle right now,

00:26:13.500 --> 00:26:16.500
because he is so limited to The Avengers,

00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:18.300
you're used to working with, you know,

00:26:18.300 --> 00:26:22.300
as a as a manufacturer is, it may not have the capacity

00:26:22.300 --> 00:26:23.700
to support your knee.

00:26:23.700 --> 00:26:27.300
So you're forced into work or or have raised their prices

00:26:27.300 --> 00:26:35.100
and it may be a vendor, a transportation company that you've

00:26:35.100 --> 00:26:39.100
never worked before that doesn't have the technology to provide

00:26:39.100 --> 00:26:42.300
you the information necessary for you to keep your customer

00:26:42.300 --> 00:26:45.400
informed. So, you know, that's why we call it a supply chain.

00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:50.100
Right? So the entire chain has to have the transactional

00:26:50.100 --> 00:26:54.400
data, the track and Trace capabilities to support the endgame

00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:58.000
desire, which is keep your customers informed with regards

00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.400
to their shipment in the order.

00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:08.100
So I think it's really important that we recognize that we are.

00:27:08.300 --> 00:27:11.600
Experience in the forgiveness is because we've done extraordinary

00:27:11.600 --> 00:27:14.900
efforts to ensure that we keep them informed.

00:27:14.900 --> 00:27:17.700
And we're transparent that we keep some more forgiving,

00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:19.600
but it has elevated.

00:27:19.600 --> 00:27:23.000
The challenge to make sure that all of the cogs in the wheel

00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:28.200
are digitally informing with the right information to ensure

00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:32.600
that that capability does it says, so everything from what gender

00:27:32.600 --> 00:27:35.500
you choose, making sure they understand the information

00:27:35.500 --> 00:27:36.800
requirements at cetera.

00:27:36.800 --> 00:27:40.200
Why do you need that information in order to see that customer

00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:41.100
sentimental?

00:27:42.700 --> 00:27:45.100
Makes sense. Awesome.

00:27:45.100 --> 00:27:47.800
So now we've talked about the holiday season,

00:27:47.800 --> 00:27:49.800
but it's going to be over before we know it.

00:27:49.800 --> 00:27:52.300
So I want to listen time for us to talk a little bit more

00:27:52.300 --> 00:27:56.100
about the new year and what to do as a small business.

00:27:56.100 --> 00:28:02.500
So I can what are some tips heading in to 2022 Douglas to start

00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:05.200
with you. First of all, how long do you think the supply chain

00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:06.100
issues will continue?

00:28:06.100 --> 00:28:09.900
I'm this seems like I've been saying like there is no end in sight.

00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:17.800
I think we all like to be enough but the practicalities

00:28:17.800 --> 00:28:19.300
in the air, right?

00:28:19.300 --> 00:28:24.300
So even though supply chain issues, as they mentioned earlier.

00:28:24.300 --> 00:28:27.800
I really lingering factors from the pandemic.

00:28:27.800 --> 00:28:31.900
Experience. What it has done is illuminated weakness.

00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:35.900
Right in the way in which we have strategic and operational

00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:39.500
Resort. So this is super important.

00:28:39.500 --> 00:28:43.700
We think about operationally we think about like the ability

00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:45.300
just to bounce back, right?

00:28:45.300 --> 00:28:47.300
So I got hit with something.

00:28:47.300 --> 00:28:48.600
I got hit with the supply chain,

00:28:48.600 --> 00:28:49.800
disruption of pandemic.

00:28:49.800 --> 00:28:50.400
It's just Adam.

00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:52.900
And I both got stuck in the Suez Canal,

00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:59.400
whatever. We we are better at that operation over Glen race,

00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:08.600
but strategically placing.

00:29:08.600 --> 00:29:09.900
What is the new normal?

00:29:09.900 --> 00:29:12.900
And we don't even know what the new normal is and we haven't

00:29:12.900 --> 00:29:15.400
even done a great job with the old North,

00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:19.300
right? It's so so it's super important that we recognize

00:29:19.300 --> 00:29:22.400
that we have to think, right.

00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:24.200
In the conversations.

00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:27.200
We've been having about getting closer to your customer,

00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:31.200
the digital aspects of being able to do those things excessively.

00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:35.600
Things that we've seen great progress on,

00:29:35.600 --> 00:29:39.900
right? We seen people take their digital agenda and compress

00:29:39.900 --> 00:29:43.000
it from A Five-Year Plan to a 12-month time cuz they have to.

00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.300
But is it strategically setting up and operating model which

00:29:47.300 --> 00:29:50.600
will withstand whatever that mean, normal is that will withstand,

00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:52.500
whatever that next destruction.

00:29:52.500 --> 00:29:57.100
So I think we will see some improvements.

00:29:57.100 --> 00:29:59.400
We are seeing after its massive efforts,

00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:04.300
being made to, you know, results for congestion and massive

00:30:04.300 --> 00:30:07.500
Investments and then getting truck drivers and warehouse

00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:10.900
workers on Warden and all of those great yesterday,

00:30:10.900 --> 00:30:13.500
but it still comes down to companies,

00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:16.200
are going to have to think more strategically about what the

00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:20.000
new normal might look like, make those necessary investment

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.100
and that's not a week or a month lungs during those are going

00:30:24.100 --> 00:30:26.500
to take several years to tackle those.

00:30:28.900 --> 00:30:31.300
Right, right? And Gwen.

00:30:31.300 --> 00:30:34.900
How are you preparing your business for 2022?

00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:37.500
Anyting that you're doing in particular to plan ahead.

00:30:37.500 --> 00:30:44.100
Yeah, I think about making those investments into the things

00:30:44.100 --> 00:30:45.800
that you're going to need in order to be operationally

00:30:45.800 --> 00:30:47.700
sound for us.

00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:50.100
We always looking for annual plan.

00:30:50.100 --> 00:30:53.100
And I think that's something that's missing for a lot of small

00:30:53.100 --> 00:30:58.400
businesses. A lot of them don't do full on annual strategic

00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:01.200
plans. They have an idea of what is it?

00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:02.500
They want to come players in the revenue. They

00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:05.600
want to make, but actually how that's broken down quarter-by-quarter

00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:07.800
week by week 11, don't do that.

00:31:07.800 --> 00:31:11.200
And I think that by creating that actual strategy,

00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:16.000
as opposed to just this kind of short list of of goals that

00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:18.700
they want to talk with his acting up and mitigate a lot of them.

00:31:18.700 --> 00:31:20.100
Because what you have a plan in place,

00:31:20.100 --> 00:31:23.500
the plan can be pivot it and can be shipped there contain.

00:31:23.500 --> 00:31:25.900
But you don't know where you're going.

00:31:25.900 --> 00:31:28.000
They always say if you don't plan.

00:31:28.900 --> 00:31:29.900
Play. You don't play it.

00:31:29.900 --> 00:31:30.600
If you don't.

00:31:31.700 --> 00:31:34.300
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,

00:31:34.300 --> 00:31:35.500
if you don't plan, you know what I mean?

00:31:35.500 --> 00:31:38.200
Right? So however, it goes, bottom line is,

00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:39.200
if you don't have a plan in place,

00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:42.400
it's harder to like the bounce back to make.

00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:44.100
Those tip is to do the things that you need to do,

00:31:44.100 --> 00:31:47.800
in order to mitigate those issues, a shift when you need to insult

00:31:47.800 --> 00:31:50.100
for us. We just finished our normally,

00:31:50.100 --> 00:31:50.700
we would have done it earlier.

00:31:50.700 --> 00:31:53.700
But because of all the supply chain craziness,

00:31:53.700 --> 00:31:56.000
we've had to move our angle planning back.

00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:59.300
So we actually just finished it a couple weeks ago and we have a

00:31:59.300 --> 00:32:01.000
pretty sound planning, really excited about it.

00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:03.600
But we're also taking worst case scenario into account.

00:32:03.600 --> 00:32:07.100
So if these worst things happen or if what we are experiencing

00:32:07.100 --> 00:32:09.100
right now is even more terrible.

00:32:09.100 --> 00:32:11.800
How are we going to to to deal with that?

00:32:11.800 --> 00:32:14.000
And so our operations manager?

00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:16.600
Is it an absolute genius at that sort of thing?

00:32:16.600 --> 00:32:20.700
I always say, hire people who are smarter than you would turn

00:32:20.700 --> 00:32:24.500
a specs. And he is definitely the hero of this story like I mentioned

00:32:24.500 --> 00:32:26.800
earlier, but that is really what we're doing.

00:32:26.800 --> 00:32:29.300
Is making sure that we have that plan in place and having

00:32:29.300 --> 00:32:31.500
the contingencies if plantain.

00:32:31.700 --> 00:32:33.000
Doesn't work with Plan B.

00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:33.400
Going to be.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:36.200
I would love to hear.

00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:39.600
Could you share just maybe like a plan?

00:32:39.600 --> 00:32:44.100
A plan B can example of something from your annual plan for 2022.

00:32:44.100 --> 00:32:49.600
Temple is a very long if you met.

00:32:49.600 --> 00:32:57.900
But for example, if we are unable to get our supplies from the

00:32:57.900 --> 00:33:05.100
Alibaba, you know, I can we instead pasta our manufacturing

00:33:05.100 --> 00:33:07.200
partner to find that for us, right?

00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.100
Because they have different than we do.

00:33:09.100 --> 00:33:10.900
Ideally. We'll get it from our.

00:33:10.900 --> 00:33:14.000
Get ourselves from Alibaba for example, cuz it will cost is less.

00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.000
But if we can't get it from them,

00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:17.900
maybe we can have our manufacturing Partners in Care.

00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:19.800
That's a really simple example.

00:33:19.800 --> 00:33:22.500
There's many more would dealing with Freight.

00:33:22.500 --> 00:33:26.100
We actually have are our top three,

00:33:26.100 --> 00:33:27.300
free Partners, right?

00:33:27.300 --> 00:33:31.400
And cost. I got those mentioned earlier are going up when it comes

00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:34.700
to Freight. For sure, even simple things that you would think.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:37.000
You talk a lot like pallet, you know,

00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:40.000
our palates when we would have to buy them.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:41.800
Normally we can just get them for free because we're doing

00:33:41.800 --> 00:33:46.100
a lot of in and out but your pallets were costing $5 before

00:33:46.100 --> 00:33:49.000
maybe $4. Now, they're like $9 a palette,

00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:52.300
you know, and now they're even charging $25 to take it off the

00:33:52.300 --> 00:33:54.000
truck where they weren't charging anything before.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.600
So, you know, those are like smaller cost but they add up over

00:33:57.600 --> 00:34:00.600
time when you're getting Palace delivered every single week,

00:34:00.600 --> 00:34:02.800
you know, so yeah.

00:34:02.800 --> 00:34:07.800
Just, you know, having those ABC suppliers in place so that

00:34:07.800 --> 00:34:10.500
if one doesn't work out, you're not scrambling at the last minute

00:34:10.500 --> 00:34:12.900
trying to figure out where can I now?

00:34:12.900 --> 00:34:16.900
Try and sort this bottle from where you know,

00:34:16.900 --> 00:34:18.200
two things like that.

00:34:18.200 --> 00:34:21.400
So a lot of it is just getting packaging and that's the main

00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.500
thing. The raw materials haven't been as bad at the packaging.

00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:25.500
Packaging has been a nightmare.

00:34:26.600 --> 00:34:32.100
Yeah, Nicole. Are you seeing any trends that you expect to influence

00:34:32.100 --> 00:34:39.300
retailers in 2022 Commerce?

00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:43.100
The new era of customer and one of the things that I keep leaning

00:34:43.100 --> 00:34:45.000
towards is okay.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:47.800
So it's a small business, most of us are familiar with what

00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:50.800
omni-channel means me and you want to be in multiple places

00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:55.400
to connect to the customer and ideally have sales being optimized

00:34:55.400 --> 00:34:57.700
through a technology, that connects everything, right?

00:34:57.700 --> 00:34:59.900
Well, I'm seeing now more of that.

00:34:59.900 --> 00:35:04.400
Customer Centric that customer Centric experience.

00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:05.800
Okay. Customers are now in charge.

00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:09.600
It can't just be the business and charge being honest Centric.

00:35:09.600 --> 00:35:14.100
We need to have customer-centric experiences because as consumers,

00:35:14.100 --> 00:35:17.800
we learned that we have to step outside of our own comfort

00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:20.300
zone. Okay. So we learned with curbside pickup.

00:35:20.300 --> 00:35:22.900
Once we learned what buy online pickup in-store.

00:35:22.900 --> 00:35:24.800
We learned about buying online.

00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:26.200
You know what, I can tell you, is

00:35:26.200 --> 00:35:27.500
it Zoomer myself.

00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:29.100
I much prefer to go to Brick + mortar.

00:35:29.100 --> 00:35:33.100
And unfortunately, I was forced to buy things online that I never

00:35:33.100 --> 00:35:34.300
did before. Right?

00:35:34.300 --> 00:35:37.800
So customers are now in control and they're willing to be more

00:35:37.800 --> 00:35:41.100
flexible. So that awesome is the cost of business.

00:35:41.100 --> 00:35:45.300
So, if you actually are at risk as a retailer to lose customers,

00:35:45.300 --> 00:35:49.400
if you are a supply challenge or be not being transparent,

00:35:49.400 --> 00:35:51.400
like we've already discussed quite a bit.

00:35:51.400 --> 00:35:55.400
So I think businesses need to not only be forward-thinking

00:35:55.400 --> 00:36:00.200
in order to be proactive and profitable but they also need to

00:36:00.200 --> 00:36:01.500
be customer forward-thinking.

00:36:01.500 --> 00:36:03.900
Okay, so it's not just Supply.

00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:06.100
Forward-thinking is customer forward-thinking,

00:36:06.100 --> 00:36:08.200
and I think that's a challenge type.

00:36:08.200 --> 00:36:10.400
If I could tell any retailer right now,

00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:12.400
what to do in 2022 to have success,

00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.600
it would be make sure you are keeping the customer sentiment,

00:36:15.600 --> 00:36:18.800
which we've discussed top of mine as you're making decisions

00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:21.400
because it's going to influence your supply.

00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:24.200
You're purchasing, you're buying your merchandise, in your in-store,

00:36:24.200 --> 00:36:26.500
everything you're online opportunity.

00:36:26.600 --> 00:36:30.600
Your marketing and social media, it all needs to come back then

00:36:30.600 --> 00:36:34.200
customer-centric. And with that, one of the things that I've

00:36:34.200 --> 00:36:36.300
seen really hiding over the last two years,

00:36:36.300 --> 00:36:41.600
is what I refer to as so-so when the stores were closed for Good

00:36:41.600 --> 00:36:45.000
mortar stores were closed and businesses were forced to,

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:48.200
you know, eliminate that traditional connectivity to customers

00:36:48.200 --> 00:36:53.100
this article. It was more popular in Asia than it was in the

00:36:53.100 --> 00:36:56.900
US market, but you seems not form such as comment sold.

00:36:56.900 --> 00:37:00.800
Okay. So essentially what this is, It's video platforms

00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:04.700
that allow for Brands to connect, be a video to their customers

00:37:04.700 --> 00:37:06.600
on social media networks.

00:37:06.600 --> 00:37:08.300
So, let's look at Facebook or Instagram,

00:37:08.300 --> 00:37:12.400
for example, so if you were rolling your feet,

00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:15.000
all the sudden your favorite brand that you follow could be going

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:17.800
live and there's so many of the new sweater.

00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:19.800
They did just got into trying on different necklaces,

00:37:19.800 --> 00:37:22.900
or maybe they're demonstrating the real and they're actually

00:37:22.900 --> 00:37:24.200
really in hotdogs and hamburgers.

00:37:24.200 --> 00:37:26.400
That is supposed to be the best gif.

00:37:26.500 --> 00:37:27.800
For all the dads in the world.

00:37:27.800 --> 00:37:29.500
This holiday season right now.

00:37:29.500 --> 00:37:32.500
There's an activist in Keychain.

00:37:32.500 --> 00:37:34.000
It's what I call Shopper team member.

00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:38.000
Okay, you are engaged with your audience through this Shopper

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:41.500
experience shop retainment, even though you're not connected.

00:37:41.500 --> 00:37:45.800
So in 2022, I think that not only will customers be in control

00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:50.500
but businesses need to engage them and you can do that virtually.

00:37:50.500 --> 00:37:53.400
Even if he can't be with that and if you had a brick-and-mortar

00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:56.700
business, you can start to optimize that omni-channel

00:37:56.700 --> 00:37:59.800
selling by saying, you know what, I just have this new image

00:37:59.800 --> 00:38:00.400
for a ride today.

00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:03.200
I'm going to sell it today because we all know what Supply

00:38:03.200 --> 00:38:03.900
works right there.

00:38:03.900 --> 00:38:05.200
They're looking to make their numbers.

00:38:05.200 --> 00:38:06.900
They just want to get it out of their store.

00:38:06.900 --> 00:38:10.200
And so you come in as a customer on this and you actually

00:38:10.200 --> 00:38:11.900
make a transaction to this technology.

00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:15.600
It's I think it only elevated in the next year.

00:38:15.600 --> 00:38:16.900
I think it's going to be fun.

00:38:16.900 --> 00:38:19.100
But my main takeaway would be that,

00:38:19.100 --> 00:38:23.000
you know, make it about the customers because shopping is a sport

00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:25.900
as we've heard in the past, but it's also entertainment.

00:38:26.500 --> 00:38:28.600
At the end of the day of customers,

00:38:28.600 --> 00:38:30.100
we we don't want to hang out.

00:38:30.100 --> 00:38:31.000
We don't want a roadblock.

00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:33.000
You know, this is a journey for us.

00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:35.800
When we make a purchase and we as businesses need to keep the

00:38:35.800 --> 00:38:39.100
customers on that have to purchase, no matter what speed.

00:38:39.100 --> 00:38:40.200
Might hit us along the way.

00:38:41.900 --> 00:38:46.800
Planters Bank and Douglas, how do you think small businesses

00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:50.600
can stay Nimble as more distractions inevitably arise?

00:38:51.600 --> 00:38:53.600
I just want to be Shopper change.

00:38:53.600 --> 00:38:55.000
That's all I need right now.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:39:00.500
It's perfect. So again, it goes back to this conversation

00:39:00.500 --> 00:39:04.600
around. Still has ability and right.

00:39:04.600 --> 00:39:08.800
So what, how, what helps us be nimble and when mentioned

00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:12.200
it earlier as well, and that's the ability to Think Through

00:39:12.200 --> 00:39:17.800
scenario, right? So what we found is just completed a supply

00:39:17.800 --> 00:39:22.100
chain, resiliency survey in partnership with the economist

00:39:22.100 --> 00:39:23.700
intelligence unit. Right.

00:39:23.700 --> 00:39:27.900
And one of the things that it that it showed demonstrated

00:39:27.900 --> 00:39:32.100
and weaknesses and particularly around consumer goods manufacturers,

00:39:32.100 --> 00:39:38.000
for example, Etc was the inability to have really thoughtful

00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:42.000
business, continuity and business.

00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:43.400
Continuity plans, you think about it?

00:39:43.400 --> 00:39:43.800
What is it?

00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:44.400
What is that?

00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:47.800
It's what do I do if this right?

00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:49.600
That's business continuity planning.

00:39:51.600 --> 00:39:53.000
Around scenario model.

00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:57.100
So what happens if a, major supplier goes out of business

00:39:57.100 --> 00:40:00.900
because they were hit hard in the pandemic and their solvency

00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:02.900
struggle was there.

00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:05.000
And now you got to still supplier,

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.400
right? What happens if a manufacturer what happens,

00:40:09.400 --> 00:40:13.100
if a manufacturer that the key manufacturer for you,

00:40:13.100 --> 00:40:17.600
but you're a you know, we're talking about some small fish in

00:40:17.600 --> 00:40:18.400
a big pond in.

00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:22.700
They they have awarded Your Capacity to a bigger player,

00:40:22.700 --> 00:40:24.800
right? Provide some more business.

00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:29.400
What happens if you get what happens if your boss position

00:40:29.400 --> 00:40:32.800
does up cuz he has to pay $9 for the pallet that went right

00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:38.200
instead of for right or whatever that situation might be because

00:40:38.200 --> 00:40:42.500
they think they think about the probability of an event occurring.

00:40:42.500 --> 00:40:47.100
And what that, what that event would mean from an impact in my

00:40:47.100 --> 00:40:49.700
business down, quite whether that be on profit or Revenue

00:40:49.700 --> 00:40:50.400
creation.

00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:54.400
Do that, that model that we talked about is that is a measuring

00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:57.700
like in the world with a VAR value-at-risk,

00:40:57.700 --> 00:41:02.200
value-at-risk combines probability of an event occurring

00:41:02.200 --> 00:41:03.800
times, the impact.

00:41:03.800 --> 00:41:07.800
When you put those two factors together in sinaro modeling

00:41:07.800 --> 00:41:10.100
world, but it does is allow me to monetize?

00:41:10.100 --> 00:41:13.200
There was nothing but there that's on the supply side or the

00:41:13.200 --> 00:41:17.000
right. So if I don't respond to remain involved,

00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:19.000
they need to think about this scenario,

00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:21.800
they need to think about the possibility of a disruptive

00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:24.900
event, current. They need to try to monetize that,

00:41:24.900 --> 00:41:26.100
then they can stack.

00:41:26.100 --> 00:41:29.000
Those are the Donnas Enterprise risk monitoring,

00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:31.900
right? Then they can decide which of those events.

00:41:31.900 --> 00:41:33.200
Do I want to do?

00:41:33.200 --> 00:41:35.200
S? What, what are my mitigation efforts?

00:41:35.200 --> 00:41:41.000
Do? I wanted 32 seconds, or do I want to expand my number

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:43.600
of Transportation Partners from 3 to 5,

00:41:43.600 --> 00:41:46.900
right? Do I want to have a secondary sources so far?

00:41:46.900 --> 00:41:48.500
If I'm a manufacturer.

00:41:48.500 --> 00:41:50.200
Do I want to invest in?

00:41:50.800 --> 00:41:52.500
You know, her degree of customer Intimacy.

00:41:52.500 --> 00:41:57.900
In order to write all of these things are are are really thoughtful

00:41:57.900 --> 00:42:05.500
ways to think about how I build resilience into my mop in the

00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:08.800
heart in the face of whatever the next instruction.

00:42:11.200 --> 00:42:13.700
Yeah, so interesting and kind of goes back to what,

00:42:13.700 --> 00:42:15.800
no gun was saying about just planning and,

00:42:15.800 --> 00:42:19.000
you know, making out those abs scenarios.

00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:20.900
Yeah. So back to you Glenn.

00:42:20.900 --> 00:42:24.200
What would be your best advice for business owners when they're

00:42:24.200 --> 00:42:25.100
planning for the new year?

00:42:26.600 --> 00:42:28.500
Josh, that's a great question.

00:42:28.500 --> 00:42:30.200
I'm just saying. My

00:42:30.200 --> 00:42:33.300
best advice will probably be what I said earlier.

00:42:33.300 --> 00:42:37.100
It's just really plan it out for the entire year,

00:42:37.100 --> 00:42:45.200
right? Planning your whole entire strategy, marketing operations

00:42:45.200 --> 00:42:51.000
and Logistics supply chain, having those different scenarios

00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:53.600
of what? What if the worst-case scenario happens with the best-case

00:42:53.600 --> 00:42:55.800
scenario happens. And what is something in the middle happen

00:42:55.800 --> 00:42:57.400
so that you can be prepared?

00:42:57.400 --> 00:43:00.700
Preparation is the best medicine I always say.

00:43:00.700 --> 00:43:04.400
And you know, it's better to be proactive than reactive

00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:09.800
and so your goal as the owner or see your higher up than your

00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:11.600
company is really to steer the ship,

00:43:11.600 --> 00:43:15.600
you know, and if you're being taken away by all these things

00:43:15.600 --> 00:43:17.200
that you could have planned for ahead of time,

00:43:17.200 --> 00:43:19.500
now you're delaying

00:43:20.300 --> 00:43:23.100
Potential profitability, potential sales, because instead

00:43:23.100 --> 00:43:24.900
of selling the stuff that you're trying to sell,

00:43:24.900 --> 00:43:26.400
now, you got to go deal with this fire.

00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:28.700
And so, again, just having that all on paper,

00:43:28.700 --> 00:43:31.200
your entire team being prepared for it.

00:43:31.200 --> 00:43:34.600
Once your, your annual plan is done,

00:43:34.600 --> 00:43:37.100
taking it to your team and having a whole team meeting.

00:43:37.100 --> 00:43:38.200
So, everyone's on the same page.

00:43:38.200 --> 00:43:41.400
There are no questions, just ask just like we talked about

00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:42.900
transparency with our consumers.

00:43:42.900 --> 00:43:46.000
We got to be transparent with our team as well and making

00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:48.000
sure that everyone in the company is on the same page.

00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:51.300
Not just the people who hold the BP levels and the people

00:43:51.300 --> 00:43:54.300
who hold, the, the quote on quote stakeholder titles,

00:43:54.300 --> 00:43:56.800
but even the people who are, you know.

00:43:56.800 --> 00:43:59.500
Maybe the entry-level folks like everyone needs to be on the

00:43:59.500 --> 00:44:03.800
same page. And so, you know, it is truly a team effort and best

00:44:03.800 --> 00:44:07.200
advice I can give is to make sure that you are doing that annual

00:44:07.200 --> 00:44:08.600
plan. If you haven't already, done it,

00:44:08.600 --> 00:44:10.100
go do it right now.

00:44:10.100 --> 00:44:12.100
Do it this week, put it on your calendar.

00:44:12.100 --> 00:44:13.100
Make sure you get it done.

00:44:13.100 --> 00:44:16.900
And, you know, if you're looking for annual plan template

00:44:16.900 --> 00:44:19.200
or, you know, what you should actually be thinking about,

00:44:19.200 --> 00:44:21.800
you think. I want to mention make sure that you definitely

00:44:21.800 --> 00:44:23.300
talk about your SWOT analysis.

00:44:23.300 --> 00:44:26.200
I think that Douglas mentioned earlier, something about weaknesses

00:44:26.200 --> 00:44:28.700
and you definitely want to make sure that you're at you're

00:44:28.700 --> 00:44:29.900
being honest with yourself.

00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:31.000
What are our weaknesses?

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:33.300
What are our threats and opportunities are strange.

00:44:33.300 --> 00:44:35.300
Everyone wants to fill up the strengthen,

00:44:35.300 --> 00:44:36.800
the opportunity side, and they go really,

00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:39.800
really weak on the other side of the spectrum,

00:44:39.800 --> 00:44:41.600
but make sure that you're feeling that in,

00:44:41.600 --> 00:44:45.100
and then plan your year out to mitigate those weaknesses

00:44:45.100 --> 00:44:47.200
and to mitigate those threats as well,

00:44:47.200 --> 00:44:49.100
and then creates our plan around that.

00:44:49.100 --> 00:44:51.800
But bottom line, make sure the entire team of the way of it.

00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:53.500
When is the best thing that you can ever do?

00:44:55.200 --> 00:44:59.900
Great, and I do have one more question to add for either.

00:44:59.900 --> 00:45:01.200
One of you guys, if you want to come in.

00:45:01.200 --> 00:45:02.000
I think it's great.

00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:03.000
We're talking about planning.

00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:08.200
But you know, how do you kind of also expect anything to happen

00:45:08.200 --> 00:45:10.000
as seen from the second?

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:12.800
I met, you know, we can plan all we want and then things just

00:45:12.800 --> 00:45:15.400
come up. You notice anyone have advice for kind of rolling

00:45:15.400 --> 00:45:15.700
with the punches.

00:45:17.600 --> 00:45:20.300
Real quick. I think cynical Point she mentioned earlier that

00:45:20.300 --> 00:45:24.000
small businesses are the best at being humble and I think using

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:26.800
that to your advantage and just understanding that you have

00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:28.800
a greater ability than a large corporation,

00:45:28.800 --> 00:45:34.400
to be able to, what is one of my favorite authors said,

00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:38.300
I'm sorry. I forgot his last name right now talks about is being

00:45:38.300 --> 00:45:41.900
able to resume being able to zoom and shift your business.

00:45:41.900 --> 00:45:43.800
So I think Nicole can probably expand upon that,

00:45:43.800 --> 00:45:46.500
but I just wanted to give her props for mentioning that earlier

00:45:46.500 --> 00:45:47.200
because it is true.

00:45:47.200 --> 00:45:48.900
And I think a lot of small businesses take that for granted

00:45:48.900 --> 00:45:58.000
and zooming and shifting in and making change in order to accommodate

00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:01.700
your business. And so I think that's definitely I would Echo

00:46:01.700 --> 00:46:04.500
but she just sat in the other thing I would say is that I'm

00:46:04.500 --> 00:46:08.000
get creative. For example, sometimes the inventory sells out

00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:09.900
so fast, you wish you had more other times,

00:46:09.900 --> 00:46:11.800
you've inventory or like, why the heck is this?

00:46:11.800 --> 00:46:14.200
Not selling. So then you have to ask yourself.

00:46:14.200 --> 00:46:15.200
What can I do?

00:46:15.200 --> 00:46:16.900
You don't want inventory to have a birthday,

00:46:16.900 --> 00:46:17.300
right?

00:46:17.600 --> 00:46:18.600
How to get it out the door,

00:46:18.600 --> 00:46:19.800
like, as soon as he get it.

00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:23.900
So, with that, in mind, starts a challenge yourself to say,

00:46:23.900 --> 00:46:26.200
how can I get creative with this in the bundle?

00:46:26.200 --> 00:46:28.600
Maybe. Maybe you can promote it differently.

00:46:28.600 --> 00:46:31.500
Maybe communicate what the value of it is your audience.

00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:33.400
The other thing is kind of interesting,

00:46:33.400 --> 00:46:41.100
small business. You are more for the retailer side-by-side

00:46:41.100 --> 00:46:44.400
but actually exchanging inventory with other businesses

00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:47.800
who are like-minded with non-competitive and your local Marketplace

00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:52.000
or competitive. In a different regional market place where

00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:53.000
you actually swap.

00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:54.500
There's different chat rooms in.

00:46:54.500 --> 00:46:57.600
Facebook groups. I saw this over covid 4 small businesses,

00:46:57.600 --> 00:47:02.300
like let's take for example, children's clothing and toy stores.

00:47:02.300 --> 00:47:04.800
They have their own like private groups and they're saying

00:47:04.800 --> 00:47:07.200
this is not hot by market in someone else's.

00:47:07.200 --> 00:47:07.700
Oh my gosh.

00:47:07.700 --> 00:47:11.200
I wish I could get more of it and then during covid 12.

00:47:11.200 --> 00:47:14.200
Let's just do a trade like, if we value it at this amount of

00:47:14.200 --> 00:47:16.600
value to this, so,

00:47:17.600 --> 00:47:20.700
Box because Kovach houses to do that more so than we've ever

00:47:20.700 --> 00:47:21.200
done in the past.

00:47:21.200 --> 00:47:24.100
It doesn't always have to be traditional or expected.

00:47:24.100 --> 00:47:25.300
You can make your own rules.

00:47:25.300 --> 00:47:26.100
That's the beauty.

00:47:27.400 --> 00:47:29.900
I'll add just one point to Nicole's down.

00:47:29.900 --> 00:47:30.200
So,

00:47:31.300 --> 00:47:33.800
Shorten your cycle time of decision-making.

00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:44.300
So and that really requires companies to really understand

00:47:44.300 --> 00:47:46.300
the difference between data and information.

00:47:46.300 --> 00:47:50.600
Right? So, we're data-rich but information for something

00:47:50.600 --> 00:47:52.400
right, we got a lot of data,

00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:56.200
but the difference between data is information information

00:47:56.200 --> 00:47:58.700
in Warrens decision, right data.

00:47:58.700 --> 00:48:01.000
So be really thoughtful.

00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:04.700
About what information needs you have that will enable your

00:48:04.700 --> 00:48:06.900
decision-making process and shortened.

00:48:06.900 --> 00:48:09.500
That's right. We think to law.

00:48:11.600 --> 00:48:15.400
Great. Thank you guys while now.

00:48:15.400 --> 00:48:17.000
We're going to turn it over to our audience.

00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:20.200
Please. Continue to use the Q&A to submit your questions

00:48:20.200 --> 00:48:21.700
to our panelists.

00:48:21.700 --> 00:48:24.700
I'm just going to run through some of the ones I'm seeing

00:48:24.700 --> 00:48:28.600
right now. And so, let's see.

00:48:28.600 --> 00:48:34.300
It looks like this one sounds like this is a good one for Douglas.

00:48:34.300 --> 00:48:39.200
Someone is asking, do you see git and lean inventory,

00:48:39.200 --> 00:48:43.400
practices, being fundamentally change, permanently going forward

00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:45.600
or sourcing closer to the point of sale?

00:48:45.600 --> 00:48:47.700
And if you don't mind just explaining what's on those terms

00:48:47.700 --> 00:48:52.200
mean? For all of us in time,

00:48:52.200 --> 00:48:53.800
inventory is what I talked about before.

00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:55.600
It's a typical lean Concepts.

00:48:55.600 --> 00:49:01.700
So we keep only as much of what we understand the terms of volatility

00:49:01.700 --> 00:49:05.800
of demand and Assurance of Supply, those two equations,

00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:06.900
then help us determine.

00:49:08.600 --> 00:49:12.600
But the bigger question here and it's a great question is,

00:49:12.600 --> 00:49:14.600
how is all of this experience?

00:49:14.600 --> 00:49:17.900
Not only affecting him in for a strategy actually Network

00:49:17.900 --> 00:49:21.000
design, cuz that's the other part of the question.

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:22.200
Where do I Source from?

00:49:22.200 --> 00:49:23.700
Where do I store inventory?

00:49:23.700 --> 00:49:28.700
Where is my demands point spread, all of those sores from delivered,

00:49:28.700 --> 00:49:32.500
two equations are super important than the network design

00:49:32.500 --> 00:49:35.900
in super important to inform our inventory strategy.

00:49:35.900 --> 00:49:38.600
So I think we're going to see is I'm not going to suggest

00:49:38.600 --> 00:49:40.800
that we throw just in time out the window,

00:49:40.800 --> 00:49:45.300
right? But we I think we will see that our view of them in

00:49:45.300 --> 00:49:48.700
for a shift to a more just in case it will build some redundancy

00:49:48.700 --> 00:49:49.800
into that equation.

00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:53.800
And I think companies including small companies will become

00:49:53.800 --> 00:50:00.000
a lot more competent about being able to design and redesign

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.500
their entire network flow inclusive of all the notes Source

00:50:04.500 --> 00:50:08.400
from Plants, manufacturing plants, stocking locations.

00:50:08.600 --> 00:50:11.200
Liver to the man points at cetera.

00:50:11.200 --> 00:50:15.700
A lot of that will require our business is to become much more

00:50:15.700 --> 00:50:16.300
confident.

00:50:22.900 --> 00:50:30.400
Thank you. Also, seeing a participant Gwen.

00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:32.900
Is this the book you're talking about stuff out and survival

00:50:32.900 --> 00:50:33.500
is not enough.

00:50:33.500 --> 00:50:38.700
It is. Thank you.

00:50:38.700 --> 00:50:45.600
So now, I think I've got a good one for Nicole.

00:50:45.600 --> 00:50:49.300
This person is saying, I've lost a lot during the pandemic

00:50:49.300 --> 00:50:51.500
due to return some stores closing.

00:50:51.500 --> 00:50:53.900
What advice would you give to someone like me?

00:50:56.000 --> 00:50:57.100
Turn to start closing.

00:50:57.100 --> 00:50:57.900
Let me see if I can see,

00:50:57.900 --> 00:51:11.700
I'm guessing that people are returning to the stores.

00:51:11.700 --> 00:51:21.500
Yeah. Yeah, I'm actually still in your brick-and-mortar

00:51:21.500 --> 00:51:25.000
store. But you're pushing outward that in store experience

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:27.000
into a virtual destination.

00:51:27.000 --> 00:51:31.300
One resource. That is called, comment sold,

00:51:31.300 --> 00:51:32.800
would be where you go to learn more about that.

00:51:32.800 --> 00:51:36.300
I definitely think you should do that because it also shows

00:51:36.300 --> 00:51:38.100
your audience. I'm open, right?

00:51:38.100 --> 00:51:39.300
Come visit me.

00:51:39.300 --> 00:51:42.600
The other thing I would say is start to reach out to your local

00:51:42.600 --> 00:51:45.900
community more to see what's working for your local community.

00:51:45.900 --> 00:51:50.300
So, you know, we can listen to the mainstream news and TuneIn

00:51:50.300 --> 00:51:51.500
online like we do with each other.

00:51:51.500 --> 00:51:55.500
But what's going on in your immediate surroundings with covid

00:51:55.500 --> 00:51:59.700
restrictions? Various reasons why people aren't coming back.

00:51:59.700 --> 00:52:02.400
So that's really important to just to get an understanding

00:52:02.400 --> 00:52:06.100
heart, beat of your local community can help reveal a lot about

00:52:06.100 --> 00:52:08.800
the health of your Local Economic Community as well.

00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:12.700
So tuned into that and see how your local leaders are pushing

00:52:12.700 --> 00:52:16.900
to encourage return a physical shopping and in-store or whatever

00:52:16.900 --> 00:52:17.900
your business might be.

00:52:17.900 --> 00:52:23.100
The other thing is leverage any past database that you have

00:52:23.100 --> 00:52:27.400
your email marketing list for example, and start to communicate,

00:52:27.400 --> 00:52:28.000
give them a reason.

00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:30.400
Why I know some of these points I said earlier,

00:52:30.400 --> 00:52:36.300
I got customers have changed, we have to make this about that.

00:52:36.300 --> 00:52:39.300
Maybe you want to offer private shopping experiences

00:52:39.300 --> 00:52:42.900
or whatever your business is that you're up like a gym,

00:52:42.900 --> 00:52:44.900
private workout experiences.

00:52:44.900 --> 00:52:48.700
So things that cater to the sentiment of the covid customer

00:52:48.700 --> 00:52:51.500
because some more reluctant to return.

00:52:51.500 --> 00:52:55.300
One reason is because they've learned alternative ways to shop

00:52:55.300 --> 00:52:58.700
and they might I prefer that to is because there could be still

00:52:58.700 --> 00:53:03.000
health concerns. So you want to cater to both of those customer

00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:05.200
realities if you will.

00:53:05.200 --> 00:53:07.000
And this goes back to being customer-centric,

00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:09.100
think about who your customer is.

00:53:09.100 --> 00:53:12.400
Look at the health of your local community in terms of that

00:53:12.400 --> 00:53:15.900
covid limitations and so forth and then try to be proactive

00:53:15.900 --> 00:53:18.400
and supporting each of those sentiments.

00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:21.900
Unfortunately, the other thing we learned, this is not black

00:53:21.900 --> 00:53:24.500
and white. So without knowing all the details of your business,

00:53:24.500 --> 00:53:27.300
I can't tell you, you know, really truly what might work,

00:53:27.300 --> 00:53:29.300
but I think I can give you a jump start.

00:53:29.300 --> 00:53:30.300
So hopefully by

00:53:32.400 --> 00:53:37.600
Thank you. I'm going to see one question answered a little

00:53:37.600 --> 00:53:40.600
bit in the chat, but I'm going to also give this one to Gwen.

00:53:40.600 --> 00:53:43.300
What source thing besides Ali Baba.

00:53:43.300 --> 00:53:44.600
Do you use that?

00:53:44.600 --> 00:53:45.800
What you suggest using?

00:53:45.800 --> 00:53:48.200
O Alibaba isn't even

00:53:49.200 --> 00:53:50.600
5% of our servicing.

00:53:50.600 --> 00:53:53.300
I think that's the one that most people know about,

00:53:53.300 --> 00:53:56.100
but we actually, I'm in Bay City,

00:53:56.100 --> 00:53:56.800
right? Outside of Detroit.

00:53:56.800 --> 00:53:58.200
Do we have a local?

00:53:58.200 --> 00:54:02.500
We built a really great relationship with a local packaging

00:54:02.500 --> 00:54:07.400
supplier relationship for years, and we get premium amazing

00:54:07.400 --> 00:54:08.200
pricing from them.

00:54:08.200 --> 00:54:10.800
But even with them, I had to go up some because their prices

00:54:10.800 --> 00:54:14.400
went up. So, I would say, if you have a local supplier near

00:54:14.400 --> 00:54:16.200
you, that is probably ideal.

00:54:16.200 --> 00:54:18.900
It doesn't have to be in your same city.

00:54:18.900 --> 00:54:20.600
It could be the next day over or,

00:54:20.600 --> 00:54:22.200
you know, the next city over or whatever.

00:54:22.200 --> 00:54:25.700
But people like to work with people that they feel like a home

00:54:25.700 --> 00:54:28.500
town folks. So, if you can find someone that's kind of near

00:54:28.500 --> 00:54:31.500
you, you can build a relationship with that sentiment.

00:54:31.500 --> 00:54:35.600
We also have the pirates that we've again use for you.

00:54:35.600 --> 00:54:38.300
As we have one in Canada that we used since I actually started

00:54:38.300 --> 00:54:39.800
necklaces in 2013.

00:54:39.800 --> 00:54:42.400
And so because we're buying so much from them.

00:54:42.400 --> 00:54:45.400
Now again, we get special premium pricing from them as well.

00:54:45.400 --> 00:54:48.900
So, I think Ali Baba's, the one that people know about

00:54:49.200 --> 00:54:51.500
What it comes to raw materials, we can't get any of that.

00:54:51.500 --> 00:54:53.300
From from Alibaba.

00:54:53.300 --> 00:54:54.800
We have to do a high quality,

00:54:54.800 --> 00:54:56.300
level quality control.

00:54:56.300 --> 00:54:58.600
And so, we have to make sure that we're able to actually

00:54:58.600 --> 00:55:03.400
have a real strong relationships with our suppliers.

00:55:03.400 --> 00:55:06.900
And so, I would say if you're looking for packaging,

00:55:06.900 --> 00:55:08.500
Alibaba, may be the way to go.

00:55:08.500 --> 00:55:11.100
Also, if you're looking for just items,

00:55:11.100 --> 00:55:13.300
like I mentioned earlier, a jade roller for your skin,

00:55:13.300 --> 00:55:15.600
or if you're looking for a comb for your hair or something

00:55:15.600 --> 00:55:17.400
like that. Alibaba, may be the most cost-effective

00:55:17.400 --> 00:55:18.200
way to go.

00:55:18.200 --> 00:55:21.000
But if you're looking for again, raw materials,

00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:23.300
I would highly advise looking at places,

00:55:23.300 --> 00:55:26.000
it again, like Nicole, that is all black and white,

00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:27.600
so, I don't know what that person's businesses.

00:55:27.600 --> 00:55:29.500
So, it's hard to say, if you're in the beauty business,

00:55:29.500 --> 00:55:30.700
I can tell you the fires all day,

00:55:30.700 --> 00:55:32.000
but if you're in,

00:55:32.800 --> 00:55:35.500
Children's Decor. I have no idea.

00:55:35.500 --> 00:55:39.100
But I would definitely do a search on Google obviously

00:55:39.100 --> 00:55:43.000
and also join some of these groups that I think either Nicole

00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:46.400
or Douglas mentioned earlier or you can start building relationships

00:55:46.400 --> 00:55:49.500
with other businesses that may not that may be competitors.

00:55:49.500 --> 00:55:52.700
But in other areas or they may be like minded complementary

00:55:52.700 --> 00:55:57.100
businesses that service the same sort of Industry that to do relationship

00:55:57.100 --> 00:55:59.400
build relationships with them and see where they're getting

00:55:59.400 --> 00:56:00.200
their supplies from.

00:56:00.200 --> 00:56:02.100
That's the best advice that I can give.

00:56:02.100 --> 00:56:06.300
And again, the local the local route is,

00:56:06.300 --> 00:56:07.200
is really, really nice.

00:56:07.200 --> 00:56:11.300
Cuz you can definitely benefit from some much cheaper price.

00:56:11.300 --> 00:56:13.800
And then you might get if you were going way out of state for

00:56:13.800 --> 00:56:16.100
you don't have that local kind of Hometown thing going on.

00:56:16.100 --> 00:56:18.600
That's great. Thank you.

00:56:18.600 --> 00:56:22.400
Have time for one last question.

00:56:22.400 --> 00:56:24.700
Douglas. I think someone just asking kind of,

00:56:24.700 --> 00:56:27.700
you know, how are these costs of freight,

00:56:27.700 --> 00:56:30.800
increasing going to come down to the consumer to think that

00:56:30.800 --> 00:56:31.800
will be passed on?

00:56:32.800 --> 00:56:36.100
That's going to be swallowed up by the businesses.

00:56:37.200 --> 00:56:38.400
It already has it.

00:56:38.400 --> 00:56:41.100
The consumer for seeing at already, right?

00:56:41.100 --> 00:56:45.200
These Transportation costs can be fully absorb not when you have

00:56:45.200 --> 00:56:46.500
increased the level.

00:56:46.500 --> 00:56:51.200
They were talking about Alex Boss or 10 x x,

00:56:51.200 --> 00:56:53.700
and shipment from China to the US and Cetera.

00:56:53.700 --> 00:56:57.000
Companies just have to pass this along and we're already

00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:02.900
staying, right. So let's, let's hope that these organizations

00:57:02.900 --> 00:57:05.400
will take advantage that when the prices do some down there.

00:57:05.400 --> 00:57:08.100
Give it back to the consumer, but it already is.

00:57:08.100 --> 00:57:15.900
And when you have to keep going up and you basically have allocated

00:57:15.900 --> 00:57:19.300
Supply, meaning, we have more demand than we can work.

00:57:19.300 --> 00:57:20.600
Those two factors.

00:57:20.600 --> 00:57:24.700
Economically will drive up the pricing because I can take advantage

00:57:24.700 --> 00:57:29.200
of Alex, take advantage of the supply side and then I have to

00:57:29.200 --> 00:57:33.200
be able to pass want some of those spots that are just not realistically

00:57:33.200 --> 00:57:36.600
able to be absorbed, so it already is

00:57:37.200 --> 00:57:41.800
It already is, I'm and I also don't expect that many of those

00:57:41.800 --> 00:57:44.400
passwords are going to go down anytime too soon.

00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:48.400
I think it's particularly as it relates to the transportation,

00:57:48.400 --> 00:57:51.900
but I think we're going to see inflated us there for quite

00:57:51.900 --> 00:57:54.200
some time, but not as if not,

00:57:54.200 --> 00:57:56.400
there's not just one solution to the problem.

00:57:56.400 --> 00:58:00.200
I mean, we can open up the for 24 hours,

00:58:00.200 --> 00:58:02.800
but that doesn't resolve the warehouse worker shortage or the

00:58:02.800 --> 00:58:04.700
transportation blocks, right?

00:58:04.700 --> 00:58:07.000
So these these problems are going to be around for awhile.

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:13.500
This cannot be fully absorbed when mentioned received bus prices from

00:58:13.500 --> 00:58:16.100
even her most trusted strategic suppliers.

00:58:16.100 --> 00:58:20.500
So, at some point is going to be there,

00:58:20.500 --> 00:58:28.000
and unfortunately, that is all the time that we have will be publishing

00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:31.000
a recording of This webinar on insiders website.

00:58:31.000 --> 00:58:32.200
So stay tuned for that.

00:58:32.200 --> 00:58:35.700
Big. Thank you for panelist for coming on to answer all of our

00:58:35.700 --> 00:58:37.000
questions and thanks.

00:58:37.200 --> 00:58:38.400
Everyone games a lot.