Here, Irish logistics company DuTec’s Sean Conway writes about the current challenges facing UK companies trying to ship to customers in Ireland and the EU and gives his top tips on avoiding these problems.
For months now there has been increased congestion at ports in many countries, with retailers sounding the alarm bell that deliveries for the holiday season could be delayed. Businesses across the world have been grappling with a tsunami of supply chain issues as economies attempt to reboot and recover after the past eighteen months.
The global supply chain crisis has largely been driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the demand for goods surging as economies re-open. The well reported shortage of lorry drivers has meant that shipment containers are being offloaded but left stacked on the quayside waiting for collection. The lack of drivers also means that there is a delay in returning empty containers for re-use. Shipping costs have increased exponentially due to soaring demand and production capacity limited by Covid-19 mandates and raw material shortages. These problems come at the busiest time of the year for retailers who are experiencing significant delays and cancellations in the delivery of stock, with concerns that not all orders will arrive in time for the festive season.
Many consumers are buying early for Christmas with concerns over possible product shortages, so ensuring a timely supply of goods is something global businesses are trying to deal with as a top priority.
One recent example is a statement from Amazon, which has said it is doing “whatever it takes to minimise the impact on customers and sellers”, spending several billion dollars to manage its labour shortages and global supply chain issues.
Despite these issues there are ways which UK consumer brands can overcome these bottlenecks.
Sean says DuTec has over 20 years’ experience finding solutions to logistics challenges in importing, exporting and supply chain issues of bulk order fulfilment for international consumer brands such as Blink and Verbatim.
British consumer brands are looking at smarter ways to solve fulfilment logistics to meet customer expectations. An Irish hub can be the perfect solution.
Top Tips
Here are Sean’s top tips for British firms wanting to export to Ireland and the EU:
- Think about shipping in bulk to an expert logistics company in Ireland who can ship directly to End Users in Ireland or elsewhere in the EU. If, for example, if you have significant B2C orders to ship to customers in Ireland weekly then it’s simpler, cheaper and quicker to bulk ship to DuTec and have us deliver to your base.
- Provide peace of mind for Irish consumers who would rather buy from a local hub than risk the delay and potential hassle of buying direct from UK.
- Make customer returns easy. Again a local hub can handle this, saving time and money and giving reassurance to customers. No need to ship a faulty product back to UK.
- Look to minimise customs hassle and potential delay. By bulk shipping in and holding your stock in DuTec’s warehouse there is less paperwork
- Beat the competition with speedy delivery. If a product is in an Irish warehouse, it’s delivered next day. No longer will the consumer be waiting 4-6 days for a shipment from UK.
