Lisa Fronek thought everything was set. The owner of Generate Sales & Marketing (asi/444517) had ordered 12 polos to be sent directly from a supplier to a printer for decoration. But a week after their arrival date, the printer called Fronek with what has recently been unsurprising news: only seven of the 12 polos had arrived.

“The printer thought they were coming in a separate box, and they never did,” says Fronek. “When we called the supplier, they said the other five wouldn’t ship for another several months, and that we had signed off on that on the confirmation.”

The issue, Fronek says, is that suppliers are getting orders ready to go out the door without making certain the distributor knows that not all the inventory will be available to ship at the same time. That doesn’t even allow her a chance to pick an alternative style.

“We’ve had to start checking the inventory ourselves before placing the order,” says Fronek about her and her one other sales rep. “Now we go through confirmations with a fine-toothed comb, and quickly. If we had been notified at the front-end that only seven polos would be available when we needed them, we would’ve chosen another garment.”

When Fronek called back to ask why Generate had never been alerted to the fact that not all the polos would be available to ship (and why it was only included in the fine print), she never got an answer. “We really hope it’s not, ‘We don’t have the time to address this – we’ll just put the onus on the printer to let the distributor know,’” she says. “Fortunately, this wasn’t an event so the client can wait for the rest of the order.” In a more time-sensitive situation, notes Fronek, she would’ve had to ask the printer to return the garments that did arrive and pay restocking fees from her own pocket. “It creates extra work for us,” she adds.

From across the promo industry, it’s just one of countless similar stories of late orders or orders that never arrive, and unmistakable errors for an increasing number of orders that do finally reach their destination.

Since COVID, firms have had to adapt to a new reality as best they can: suppliers try to fill orders with limited inventory, few hands and unreliable freight companies, as distributors work ahead when possible and manage clients’ expectations while trying to keep the sale. But it’s causing tension between suppliers and distributors that industry members hope is short-lived.

As much as end-buyers have been conditioned to expect shortages and order delays this past year (they’re experiencing it across the board, after all, and not just in promo), the frustration that these issues spawn make it challenging to sell and keep end-buyers happy. While promo has long been characterized as a fun industry to be in, few people are laughing these days.

“Now we have to tell clients when their order is expected in, but that there aren’t any guarantees,” says Fronek. “Everyone’s lowered their expectations, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

The Waiting Game

By now, most everyone in the promo industry is familiar with the supply chain crisis that arrived in the wake of COVID’s 2020 shutdowns. But the SOI data suggests it should go by another name: the order disaster.

Consider that 17% of orders from suppliers arrive late. Nearly 80% of distributors report having lost an order recently due to holdups. In addition, 16% of delivered orders from suppliers contain mistakes. The result is that orders are taking longer to process, longer to arrive, and longer to place in customer hands due to errors or incomplete shipments.

It’s a complicated issue, starting with inventory, which is slow to be replenished because of crippled overseas factories and stoppages at ports. “In some instances, there’s literally no inventory,” says Charles Doligé, partner at NYC-based LR Paris (asi/246857). “It’s hard to come by 500 or 1,000 pieces these days, and it’s getting worse this summer.”

Ed Levy, president of Edventure Promotions (asi/186055), has experienced similar challenges to Fronek – suppliers sending confirmations and then only shipping half the order while the rest is delayed. “I think they’re taking inventory from us and completing another larger distributor’s order with it,” he says. “And these are suppliers we’ve worked with for a long time.”

And there have been other residual issues to deal with when items are held up in shipping containers for weeks at a time. Fronek says she’s had clients complain of dried-up pen ink, and umbrellas they had to air out before distributing because they smelled like fish. “We’re seeing some weird things,” she notes.

Meanwhile, suppliers say they can only be as punctual as the ports as well as major carrier companies, which have been slow to deliver. (Skyrocketing fuel costs have also caused the suppliers to add surcharges.)

“We’ve seen so much carrier volatility in the last 12 months,” says Kevin Walsh, president of Top 40 supplier Showdown Displays (asi/87188) and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people. “We just can’t count on UPS or FedEx these days. They have disclaimers on everything. If the order was running late, our safety valve used to be air shipment, but that’s not dependable right now. You can’t rely on tracking anymore.”

“We’ve seen so much carrier volatility in the last 12 months. We just can’t count on UPS or FedEx these days.” Kevin Walsh, Showdown Displays

Even when suppliers work hard to get the order out on time, they’re ultimately at the mercy of the delivery companies. “Arrival delays are often outside our control,” says Scott McFadden, CFO of Top 40 supplier Bag Makers (asi/37940). “There have been situations where we’ve completed and shipped a customer order on or ahead of schedule, but it was delayed by the carrier after it left our facility. Unfortunately, many of them no longer guarantee transit times.”

Levy says he tries to extend grace to the freight companies, since many deliveries do make it to their destinations on time. But it’s frustrating nonetheless when tracking shows a package is sitting in a distribution center and doesn’t move for several days, rendering it late after all the front-end work it took to order with what should have been plenty of time to spare. “One of our client’s orders sat in Memphis for several days with no explanation, and no one knows why,” he says. “We confirmed there weren’t any problems with the paperwork. It delayed everything during a critical week for our client.”

And yet, distributors say they can take much of this in stride if suppliers would be more proactive and communicate up front about current realities. Is a proof taking longer than usual? Give distributors a clearer picture of when to expect it. Inventory not available to ship all at the same time? Confirm the distributor realizes that and offer comparable alternatives. Not sure how to answer a distributor’s question? Find someone who can and make sure they call them back quickly.

“The biggest hindrance for us has been front-end communication with suppliers and trusting their information,” says Sarah Whitaker, owner and client success manager at Williams Advertising (asi/360402). “It’s become a DIY approach for us – we rely on ESP and we always look at inventory there before calling the supplier. But even then, either no one picks up or they say ‘we’ll have an answer for you in 48 hours’ and that’s not great. And then when the order’s wrong, they’ll say, ‘it was out of stock,’ or ‘we misinterpreted what you wanted,’ or ‘we received the wrong color.’ There’s no communication when things go wrong.”

Marty McDonald, president of McDonald Imaging Solutions (asi/522770), says he used to have a dedicated CSR at most of his supplier partners, as was common before COVID. These days he talks to whoever happens to pick up the phone, if they answer at all. Often they say they’ll call over to another department to get the issue resolved and have them call McDonald back. They rarely do. “They just wanted to get off the phone,” he explains. “They’re hiring anyone with a pulse these days. The customer service isn’t good, and I don’t like saying that about our industry.”

McDonald adds, “We have to babysit every order.” Whitaker says her order manager recently expressed similar frustration. “She said, ‘Shouldn’t the supplier tell me when there are issues?’” notes Whitaker. “I said yes, but that’s not the reality today. I don’t remember it being so bad before.”

Not Enough Hands

Across the board, the problem is the same – staffing shortages. Overseas factories are slow to get product manufactured and loaded on pallets, containers are slow to unload, carrier companies are slow to get stock to suppliers, and customer service reps and production staff at suppliers are slow to imprint, slow to confirm orders, proofs and stock levels, and slow to communicate issues, all because of a lack of people on the ground. And as end-buyers return to promo after COVID expecting quick service, this creates a problem.

“The labor issue is huge,” says Walsh. “I’ve yet to speak with a supplier who’s not desperately seeking production workers. It costs a lot just to get them in the door and interview, and then some are ghosting the company before they even start.”

And now, the promo order process – not the most efficient before COVID – has slowed down even more because of staff shortages. “There are 10 times more touches on every order,” says Fronek. “It used to be PO, confirmation, proof, tracking. Now there are stock issues, delays, and some don’t even offer proofs anymore, which we find out once we call to request it. More touches mean more opportunities for mistakes, on both sides.”

In fact, an additional 5% of orders are now arriving with errors compared to four years ago. When suppliers lack staff – and experienced, knowledgeable staff at that – PO errors aren’t caught; wrong styles, sizes, colors and quantities are picked and packed; PMS matching fails; imprint quality suffers; and shipments get sent to the wrong address. The errors add time to an already lengthy order process.

Even if every CSR and production position at a supplier was filled in the next week, onboarding takes a while in this industry, says Joe Favre, sales manager at Vanguard Direct (asi/350665), who also has experience on the supplier side. “It’s not easy to bring people on,” says Favre. “Especially if they need to know production workflow or warehouse operations.”

For CSRs too, it takes a while to get them up to speed. Brittany David, chief revenue officer at Top 40 supplier SnugZ USA (asi/88060) and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people, says promo is a “complex” industry and customer service training can be complicated, especially once the person moves beyond just forwarding tracking numbers to the distributor. “If they’re not sure about something, CSRs often send questions to sales, and then those people get bogged down,” she says. “The only thing that fixes it is time. It may seem like we’re making excuses, but it’s reality.”

Combine intricate on-boarding with positions going unfilled for a long time, and it’s nearly impossible to meet client demand at pre-COVID levels. There just aren’t enough people or hours in the day, says David. “Companies have always had staffing challenges, but now people aren’t coming back to work,” she says. “Some of them made a career decision and they’re pursuing other things now. Good for them. If it was one thing, we could address it. But it’s coming from all sides.”

Picking Up the Pieces

Regardless of the many reasons for slow service and late orders, distributors have to find solutions in the meantime to keep servicing customers. That often means sticking with a select few suppliers who have consistently served them well.

“We’re looking at specific relationships with suppliers,” says Favre. “The supplier-distributor model is still safe and we’ll rebound, but there’s a ton of room for improvement.”

Doligé says the best partners at the moment are those that communicate upfront, take responsibility, pay attention to details and are trustworthy. “When there’s a mistake, we handle it together,” says Doligé. “It’s not ‘I’m the client so I’m right’ – it’s a partnership. We treat suppliers the way we want to be treated. Because without our suppliers, we’re nothing. It’s easier to find a new client than to find a new factory to work with.”

But Fronek says patience across the industry is wearing thin, and she has no problem hitting up other suppliers with inventory that’s ready to ship. “We’ll make our secondary suppliers our primary ones,” she says. “We’ll gravitate to those suppliers that have better service because we have to continue serving our clients or they’ll move on too.”

As staffing woes in particular continue, suppliers will be forced to adopt more technology like automation to fill orders instead of relying on human beings punching the clock. Especially as economic pressures put a damper on consumer buying power, end-buyers will have a more critical eye trained on how they’re spending and how quickly they receive their goods.

“It’s been a clunky order process for a long time,” says Walsh. “And now with inflation, I’m concerned that end-buyers will choose alternative marketing methods that have better ROI than promo. End-buyers should be able to purchase as quickly and painlessly as possible. That’s where we have to work together.”