Supply Chain Expert Tinglong Dai, on Holiday Gift-buying and the Nation’s Supply Chain Crisis

BALTIMORE, MD, November 29, 2021 – New audio is available for media use featuring supply chain expert Tinglong Dai on holiday gift-buying and the nation’s current supply chain crisis. This content is made available by INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences. All sound should be attributed to Tinglong Dai. He is a professor of operations management and business analytics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He also has joint faculty appointments at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Institute for Data-Intensive Engineering and Science. He is on the core faculty and leadership team of the Hopkins Business of Health Initiative. There are four questions and responses. These responses were provided on November 22, 2021.

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Question 1: What consumer products are most affected by the current supply chain crisis going into the holiday shopping season?

Time Cue: 00:34, Soundbite Duration: 00:32

Transcription: “Because of the microchip shortages, I expect to see a variety of products using them to be in short supply. Also the delay in the major shipping ports mean a lot of products such as artificial Christmas trees may not arrive in time for Christmas.”

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Question 2: How will these shortages affect consumers and holiday shoppers right now?

Time Cue: 01:00, Soundbite Duration: 00:30

Transcription: “First of all, these shortages limit the variety and prices of products consumers normally enjoy. They also make it difficult for people to estimate the arrival of the products ordered online, especially durable goods, and furniture, etc.  So, people have to adjust their behavior, or they have to order early, or they have to settle with imperfect products.”

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Question 3: How should consumers change their purchasing habits this year to account for the supply chain challenges?

Time Cue: 01:33, Soundbite Duration: 00:50

Transcription: “First of all, you want to be flexible, be patient. This a supply chain shortage. It is temporary like any supply chain shortage is. This supply chain shortage will be over by January or  by February and we will no longer be talking about the same supply chain shortage like we do now. So, that means we want to be flexible and don’t’ want to be upset if it’s not exactly ideal. The other aspect is to plan ahead of time as early as possible if you want your desirable goods to arrive on time for Christmas.” 

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Question 4: What should retailers and sellers be doing this holiday season to mitigate the impact of the supply chain crisis?

Time Cue: 02:23, Soundbite Duration: 0:38

Transcription: “The major retailers such as Amazon, Costco are already doing a lot of things to encourage you to shop early, and also they are doing a lot of non-typical moves, to guide the consumers to shop differently. For example, Amazon has been sending catalogues, something they’ve never done before, to consumers to try to promote a few and more specific items that you may like. Also, they try to promote merchandise earlier in the year to help spread out traffic and demand.”

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