The art of supply chain: How to make sure you get your Christmas and TeMaKlaas gifts on time!

By Allard Waterlander

Most of you, if not all of you will probably engage in some sort of Secret Santa. It does not matter if it is with your own family, your in-laws, your roommates or with your friends, it’s a yearly tradition in which everybody can participate. The active members of TeMa will also engage in this tradition together by celebrating TeMaKlaas. During the Active Members Weekend, every committee got the chance to draw a name from a hat, to arrange an exchange of gifts and funny poems. It does not matter if you celebrate Christmas or TeMaKlaas, one thing is for sure; engaging in Secret Santa will always result in an evening spent with people you like and straight up having a good time. At least that will be the case if you have your gifts ready on time….

How supply chain issues will affect Holiday shopping in 2021

It may seem like a long way off, but it might be a good idea to start thinking about what you will be giving everyone this holiday season. Supply-chain challenges driven by shipping delays, component shortages, and factory closures do not bode well for procrastinators and last-minute shoppers. So what is going on and how much is this problem going to affect your shopping?

Pressure on the global supply chain

Earlier this year, the hope was that the bottlenecks that put pressure on the global supply chain in 2020 would be mostly cleared by now. Sadly, this isn’t the case, since worldwide container transport has been disrupted again. One of the main factors is of course the aftermath of the corona crisis, where the production of products stopped, while orders started to increase again.

Covid infections

Once again, global container shipping has been disrupted. International transports are delayed due to corona infections in one of the largest Chinese ports. A few months ago in late May, the Yantian terminal in Shenzhen closed for a week after workers tested positive for Covid-19. The port had to run on a limited capacity of namely 70 percent for the following weeks. Due to this backlog at Yantian, shipping companies have moved to other ports, which caused it to be extra busy there as well. Production companies and retail chains can feel the consequences of this for a long time to come, even into our beloved Christmas period. 

Naval Traffic Jam

This situation shows us how vulnerable container transport is to a relatively small outbreak of the virus. In 2020, it started with the closing of factoring and logistical barriers. In addition to the current pandemic, the cargo ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for 6 days in March 2021. Since container ships came to standstill, a lot of these ships are in the wrong place. Retailers are still bothered by this naval traffic jam. As a result, container transport has become increasingly expensive due to the disruptions, a shortage of containers and the increasing raw materials and goods. As prices of containers are skyrocketing, the larger the product is, the more space it will take up, and the higher the price will become. 

Lack of materials 

As if this pandemic and a disrupted container shipment did not put enough pressure on the global supply chain yet, there is also a scarcity of raw materials at the moment. In addition, China decided two and a half months ago to impose a quota on energy, which means that factories are only allowed to run three instead of six days a week. To describe it in terms that most students will be familiar with, it’s basically a cocktail of multiple bottlenecks.

How will this affect your Christmas and TeMaKlaas presents?

Since most people saved money by not being able to go on a vacation, going out to eat less often, and not being able to go to festivals, a lot of people want to go all-out shopping during the most wonderful time of the year. This combination of high demand and a relatively low supply causes an increase in price. As logistics experts warn that world trade will not return back to normal until the end of 2022, and companies are announcing price increases to cope with the added costs, you may want to alter your tactics this year. Mixing rising costs, low supply and people’s anxiety about finding the right gifts, can result in a budgeting nightmare. However, if you start early, you can minimize the financial impact that this holiday shopping season will have on your wallet.

Early bird gets the worm

The saying “Time equals money” is no longer just a cliché. This holiday season, your biggest advantage to saving money will literally be time. The sooner you start, the more time you will have to shop, which will allow you to save money. Since you will gain the assurance in getting the gifts you want, and be able to avoid the stress of scrambling to buy gifts at the last minute. It can be a difficult task, especially for procrastinators, but starting early will be better for your wallet as well as give you mental peace.

How to optimize your holiday shopping

Even though good deals may be more scarce than usual, you should take the discount claims with a grain of salt. Try to balance your desire to wait for sales like Black Friday with the potential for delays and shortages. If items on your or a loved one's wish list are already suffering from inconsistent stock or significant delays, there is a good chance that better prices are not going to be offered and are not worth the wait. So keep this in mind as the usual sales like Black Friday approach, do not hold off your shopping till it’s too late!