Canadian distributors are once again concerned about order issues due to the supply chain.

New State of the Industry data for Canada shows that the percentage of distributors who lost an order due to a supply chain issue – much of it stemming from trade uncertainty, inflationary pressures and a tumultuous parcel delivery environment in Canada – rose from 45% in 2023 to 50% in 2024.

Meanwhile, the percentage of orders that were delivered on time ticked up to 87%, and the percentage that were delivered without mistakes fell slightly to 83%. Still, that leaves 17% of orders that arrive incorrect.

Scott Hulbert, managing director of ideavation (asi/229801) in Richmond Hill, ON, can attest to that challenge – he says the majority of their orders arrive on time because his team is proactive and gets ahead of budding issues. Unfortunately, there’s been an increase in inaccuracies, like the wrong decoration location, color, size, delivery service level or destination.

“Suppliers are getting too big, the talent pool is shrinking and remote work is a major issue,” he says. “It used to be that if there was a question, the customer service rep would just run back to the warehouse and talk to the production manager in person. Now, reps are at home, they’re overseas – they’re not present and there’s a long delay in getting answers.”

Hulbert also laments the decrease of dedicated reps, whom distributors knew and trusted, who would see orders through from start to finish; now, especially at the larger companies, customers are placed in a pool, and the rep who happens to take the call or answer the email has to review past notes to get up to speed.

“People have too much responsibility and not enough time,” says Hulbert. “I’ve been in this industry for 25 years, and we’re having to micromanage more than ever.”

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