F. Curtis Barry & Company Blog

Labor is continual challenge for most every business.  Outside pressures from other businesses, as well as state  governments are continually driving up labor costs.  The latest example is from the retailing giant Target.  On June 17^th, Target announced that it will permanently raise its minimum wage for workers by $2, to $15 per hour starting next month.  These cost increases will have a direct impact on your fulfillment cost per order. 

There is no end to the process of reducing labor effort, shortening processing times, making better use of warehouse space, costs and error reduction. To be competitive, have flexibility in fulfillment operations, and survive - a process of continuous process improvement is critical in warehouse and distribution activities today. 

In today’s challenging and competitive world, your success can hinge on whether your warehouse operations are productive, and effective, enough to meet your expectations and those of your customers. One way to gauge how effectively your warehouse operations are meeting those expectations is to conduct a warehouse operations assessment: a systematic review of the warehouse functions looking for possible improvements in efficiency and service.

Inventory management is a strategic issue that affects profitability and customer service. Additionally, many fulfillment centers are overstocked with slow-selling merchandise tying up valuable inventory locations. While an item’s inventory cost is the majority of the expense, it is only part of the costs incurred when you consider credit borrowing. labor and facility expenses to maintain and store inventory, plus lost opportunity costs should be considered when thinking about where to use cash elsewhere in the business.

No one knows the business environment after COVID-19 or what the “new normal” will be. Considering the potential bankruptcies of large and small businesses, especially brick and mortar retail stores, we believe that businesses that emerge strong from COVID-19 will have a huge advantage in the typical fourth quarter peak of 2020 and beyond.

Prior to COVID-19, companies were struggling to hire enough skilled workers to meet customer demands.  Now businesses are needing to fundamentally change to continue operating and stay in business, but now labor has become a different type of constraint.  This new constraint comes in the form of business struggling to be able to find enough labor to come in and fulfill order demand, while at the same time providing health checks throughout the day and limiting employee interactions.

As the country continues to battle COVID-19, many businesses are having to adapt at staggering speeds or face closure.  In some states, "non-essential" businesses are forced to close and others are operating on skeleton crews.  As states begin to shed light on how and when businesses can begin to reopen, businesses should think about how to support sales in this new economy. 

Various indicators show customers are less likely to shop in crowded stores and significantly more likely to order online with contactless pickup.  Business must adapt or face closures as COVID-19 will affect retail for quite some time.

The COVID-19 pandemic is infecting hundreds of thousands of people and threatening to shut down millions of businesses. Many business owners are trying to stay open and service the customer while keeping their employees and customers safe. Other owners temporarily shut down and are thinking about how and when they can reopen.   

As consultants to wholesale distributors, retailers, and ecommerce companies, we are working with a number of “essential” companies remaining operational, as well as retailers implementing local, store level-pick-with curbside pickup. Like you, our hope is to get through this and move on to the “new normal.”

Global supply chains have not experienced this much disruption since WWII when the United States wasn’t as dependent on oversea goods and manufacturing.  Many businesses are making swift business decisions and joining an illustrious group of retailers closing for several weeks to try and flatten the curve of the coronavirus. 

We are on the potential brink of global Supply Chains disruption.  Many of the major brick and mortar retailers in America are now temporarily closed until at least mid-to-end of April. Online merchants are still open, although Amazon is limiting shipments to priority medical and health products.