We won’t get into the specifics of the physical virus because, well, we’re not doctors (you’re welcome). What we ARE able to discuss is how it is affecting production and exportation of goods.
In this case specifically, promotional products.
The truth is – and you probably already know this – a ton of merchandise that we use every day is made in China.
The past couple of years have come with many challenges in commercial trade with China – tariffs being a huge part of those. The tariffs, however, seem to succeed in some of the ways they were intended – which was to rely less on goods from China and more on both domestic materials and production. Therefore, some in the U.S. were already utilizing resources outside of China for that reason by the time the virus reared up. That’s the only somewhat good news, if there is any.
How is INM handling these delays?
That’s a terrific question! Most of our products are hanging out on shelves here in the states, just waiting to be picked and decorated with a fun logo. They love it when that happens – it’s literally what they were made for.
Now, while most current inventory levels are more than sufficient to fulfill immediate orders, the extended production delays and backlogs are causing some minor inventory shortages. It’s possible that an item might sell out and not be available anymore. No need worrying about that yet, as we have many sources for domestic production and are utilizing them when needed. Sometimes, we’ll need to find alternative merchandise from domestic factories. We remain very current on our production capabilities overseas, and are keeping those international limitations in mind when we come up with new product solutions.
As for now, we’ll continue to keep calm, wash our hands, and cover our coughs.
