Our supply chain forgot we’re supposed to be recovering from a pandemic

Quiz time: What do these three real-life scenarios from 2021 have in common?

1. This is a great time to be in the seafood industry. Seafood consumption is strong, powered by the continuation of the prepare-at-home trend triggered by the pandemic, and by post-pandemic resumption of restaurant and food-and-beverage business. And, depending on the sector, retail prices have soared, in some cases 50% - 60% within the calendar year and 140% year over year.

2. This is a terrible time to be in the seafood industry. If you produce, process or ship seafood, you’re struggling with labor shortages which make it challenging to deliver on your own commitments. And with ships sitting awaiting access to bottlenecked ports and continued challenges with closed borders, you’re concerned about the ability of your traditional suppliers to deliver on their commitments to you.

3. Completely unrelated to the pandemic, US Customs and Border Protection decided to take action to restrict a decade-old process used to ship whitefish from Alaska to the US east coast (if you’re not familiar with this one, it’s an entertaining look at how the lure of opportunity drives ingenuity… an excellent and informative podcast from Intrafish is here, which will enable you to see the humor and audacity in this video.)

Answer:

All of these scenarios place pressure on seafood companies to expand their global network of relationships. Our supply chain is still broken. It’s exhibiting the symptoms of a COVID long-hauler, where it’s far from recovered, and it is not clear how or when recovery will take place. There’s a distinct need to increase supply to meet demand, to increase the number of supplier sources in order to buffer the risk of supplier unpredictability, and to build in flexibility to shift from one source to another as the regulatory and geopolitical environment introduce constraints.

There is cause for optimism - while Delta variant flare-ups are still occurring, and the true impact of Omicron is, as of this writing, yet to be understood, in large part we’re on a path to recovery from the pandemic. Many of us in the US just had a real Thanksgiving gathering with family, something not possible a year ago. Companies are starting to return to the office. We’re eating in restaurants more now.

Competitiveness – and survival – requires conscious action to build new relationships, and platforms to effectively manage them and pursue new business opportunities. Companies who do so rapidly will capitalize on the market-driven demand opportunity, and will increase the flexibility and agility of their sourcing relationships to buffer supplier and labor uncertainties. Companies unable to do so will face idled facilities, margin pressure, and declining revenue. It’s that simple.

Are you able to ride the wave of change? How are you expanding your network of supplier/buyer relationships?

CONXEMAR Round-up Part 2: Channel Fatigue

Team Dealboard recently attended CONXEMAR, the International Fair of Frozen Seafood organized by the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Processors and Exporters of Fisheries and Aquaculture Products. While there, we engaged in 120 conversations with representatives from over 100 companies in the seafood industry. We share our observations about the CONXEMAR event, the current state of the seafood industry, and the impact of COVID in this multi-part series.

One outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rise of videoconferencing. Almost overnight, in the middle of March, 2020, businesses, organizations and families across the world pivoted to video conferencing as a primary means of communication. The ramp-up was astounding – years worth of digital transformation achieved in mere months; millions of people adopting new systems within weeks for both business and personal use.

But, as we discussed in our last post, videoconferencing is no substitute for human contact. And, the other ways we used to communicate – WhatsApp, Skype, mobile phone, email and more – haven’t gone away. Where previously we had, say, 6-8 ways to get in touch with someone, now we have 10-20 with the acceptance of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other videoconferencing facilities. How many channels are too many, and what happens when we reach channel overload?

Our conversations at CONXEMAR indicate that the seafood industry has reached channel overload, and it’s causing a lot of overhead. With only very few exceptions, teams buying or selling seafood products are using multiple ways to contact each other, to build relationships and to negotiate and finalize transactions. We heard time and time again about how frustrating and inefficient it is to juggle all of these different methods at the same time. Across all of our conversations, we didn’t hear even one person say “I use all of these channels because I love them all.”

To make matters worse, none of the commonly used communication channels is really optimized for the unique conditions of the seafood industry. Alibaba might be OK for selling retail goods to the general public, but try posting your products there to attract wholesalers, and you’ll quickly find you’re sharing more information with more unknown and untrusted parties than you'd like.

We’ve added channels, but haven’t taken any of the old ones away yet. Have you experienced channel fatigue? How are you coping?

CONXEMAR Round-up Part 1: The New Normal is Surprisingly Like The Old Normal

Team Dealboard recently attended CONXEMAR, the International Fair of Frozen Seafood organized by the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Processors and Exporters of Fisheries and Aquaculture Products. While there, we engaged in 120 conversations with representatives from over 100 companies in the seafood industry. We share our observations about the CONXEMAR event, the current state of the seafood industry, and the impact of COVID in this multi-part series.

CONXEMAR was one of the first in-person seafood industry events of its scale to be conducted after rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Following the extended lockdown of the pandemic, and the “Zoom-itis” which many of us adapted to in our work and personal lives, it was truly wonderful to gather together in person once again. Energy, optimism and warm reunions filled the exhibit hall.

The CONXEMAR team is to be commended for their handling of the event – it felt safe, largely due to the extensive protocols in place including strict access monitoring and temperature checks at entry points. Add to that consistent use of masks plus the hand sanitizer provided by nearly every exhibitor, and it felt like the risks of congregating were reasonably mitigated.

But almost 2 years of social distancing didn’t cause certain pre-COVID behaviors to disappear. Exchanging a hand shake along with a business card was surprisingly common. And, true to norms of cultural etiquette, you could still spot instances of greetings accompanied by a kiss on the cheek. How quickly, as we venture out from our COVID-induced separation, we revert to traditions, customs and long-learned behaviors.

All of this reminds us that at our core, we are human animals. We have evolved to prioritize and to require social interaction for our survival. Videoconferencing was a growth industry during the pandemic, and this gave us ways to work remotely, to meet remotely, to communicate and to keep in touch as we lived in our separate bubbles. But, as great as videoconferencing technology is, there is no substitute for real, face-to-face engagement. Videoconferencing doesn’t feed the soul with the richness of human connection we need to thrive.

It’s great to see that such events are possible again, if well managed. And, it’s great to see how much all the participants are able to get out of them. If this is The New Normal, it’s comfortingly familiar.

How are you incorporating older traditions and habits into your New Normal?