Home | Blog | Holiday Shortages? Let’s Swap Stories.
24 Nov 2021
#holiday disruptions
#supply chain management
#supply chain visibility

Holiday Shortages? Let’s Swap Stories.

HOLIDAY SHORTAGES? LET’S SWAP STORIES.

While researching an ACSIS white paper on supply chain disruption and visibility (coming your way soon), we came across this disturbing factoid: beverage alcohol shortages are on the rise due to bottle cap and other packaging shortages.

Is it a bridge too far? We’ve heard about delayed TVs, exercise equipment, athletic shoes, fish sticks, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, chicken, coffee beans, diapers, pies, plastic ketchup packets, Rice Krispies, Sour Patch Kids, toilet paper (again!), and more. But beverage alcohol? It’s serious.

The reasons for the supply chain disruptions are many and are being thoroughly discussed elsewhere. I won’t rehash them here, except for a quick summary:

  1. Port congestion
  2. Trucker shortages
  3. Changing buying habits

It’s the perfect storm. It’s also the holiday season when consumer spending normally rockets upward. But now that spending will be artificially constrained due to supply chain disruptions, with massive ripple effects on the larger economy sure to follow.

None of us can fix the challenges and circumstances that have gotten us to this point. Nor did any of us seriously prepare for the possibility of a global pandemic and its attendant supply chain disruptions. But each of us – every individual company with a material supply chain – can be positioned to see such bottlenecks coming, before the shelves are bare, and before our plans for holiday enjoyment fizzle.

ACSIS makes supply chains 100% visible, trackable, and intelligent. By “intelligent,” we mean this: you can see problems before they happen and take corrective action before it’s too late. Talk to us and together we’ll discover your best path forward.

Let’s share ideas: for the holidays I can either rewrite gift lists for my adult friends – or shop very early at my local wine & spirits purveyor. What would you do? What are you doing to cope with this challenging holiday shopping season? Share your stories, tips, ideas, and experiences, and maybe we can make holiday gift giving just a little better for each other.