Blog #1. The Effect of Covid 19 in the Distribution Market

Covid 19 has affected every aspect of life as we know it. We saw it affect much of the workforce in several ways. We saw unfortunate mass layoffs and closures that had no expected re-opening date. Businesses had varying beliefs and constant change in covid restrictions made it hard for people and businesses to learn how to proceed through these rough times. As well many small businesses are financially fragile and the sudden halt in our everyday lives caused panic.

The Global Pandemic affected Progressive Sales in both positive and negative ways. It forced us to adapt and find solutions to issues that companies all over the globe were also struggling with. The first obstacle was the closure of the office and working remotely this made things shift in a more digital manner, instead of processing orders and new clients over the phone all things were done digitally. One of the first things we had to do was create a whole new system where dealers and vendors could sign up online. This was a lot of categorizing work inputting products, details, company names etc.

The next obstacle that was faced was distribution. As people were stuck inside at home online shopping noticeably increased. People were buying more products to keep themselves and their families entertained. Progressive Sales is a distributor of consumer electronics, fitness, technology and outdoors & recreational products. For example, one for our lines sells home fitness equipment, such as treadmills, rowers, ellipticals and stationary bikes. While people where stuck at home, unable to go to gyms products in that field were selling very quickly. Of course, sales are great, unfortunately due to Covid production was at an all-time low. Although we had a high demand for these products the manufactures, we’re at a halt, and we were not receiving new shipments in that we could continue to sell. This meant once we sold out of items, we had already in our warehouse we were stuck without products.

I did find it interesting how we managed to deal with that and getting to be a part of that process myself taught me lots. Progressive created a waitlist system, where clients could put a deposit down for X amount and once received a new shipment those on the list would be the first to receive product. If the item did not come in by the stated date clients would receive their deposit back. This system seemed to work smoothly, as many people did place themselves on the list. Covid really changed the way things run and over the last year I think we watched the world adapt and enter a new online era, which was interesting to be a part of.