Wholesalers will also face their own issues with employee health protection, work flow efficiency and probable increased inventory space needs. Between those factors and the inherent inefficiencies of more diversified supply and customer lists, operating costs will rise and will both squeeze margins and put pressure on pricing. Fortunately, tribal wholesalers will not be unique in facing these pressures. However, most will not have the volume available to the largest non-tribal wholesalers over which to spread their increased costs. Tribal wholesale management will need particularly careful planning and monitoring of operations to make the necessary adaptations to achieve sufficient profits in the challenging post-pandemic economy. Within this context, key recommendations and areas of focus include: Active diversification of supply chain and sales outlets to mitigate current and future risk of disruptions to key vendors or buyers Exploration of horizontal integration and product diversification to cater to increased demand for multiple vendors and multiple product lines as the recovery takes hold Increased and sustained communication with tribal leadership and other tribal entities to explore supply or sales opportunities and ensure awareness of product lines available Participation in planning and lobbying initiatives with tribal manufacturers to expand products manufactured and sold from tribal lands Exploration of automation opportunities to protect output capacity in the event of public health disruptions Further development of online ordering and shipping capabilities to expand the pool of sales outlets Monitoring of internal costs in relation to market pricing to maximize margins across product lines Retail Trade The post-pandemic retail environment will require increased automation, increased online presence, careful pricing, diversification of suppliers and sales outlets, and changes to the retail mix to better protect against closures where possible. A common complaint amongst many retailers during various shut-down orders has been the discrepancy between small specialty retail and large multi-product retail such as Target or Walmart. The difference was due to the need to maintain access to groceries, pharmaceuticals and many other daily-life products deemed essential to supporting the general population while they were forced to remain at home. Where any retailer can practically and legitimately add products to their sales mix deemed essential, they will have an obvious advantage in future shut-downs if/when they occur. However, that is only an option where demand and selling space can support the shift.
∴ PRESCRIPTIONS
124
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs