To say that the last twelve months have been a testing time is a bit of an understatement for some. So many factors of our lives have changed, and this has created a real sense of uncertainty. We have tried to stay as positive and normal as possible to help bring you some feeling of stability.
In our daily running of Duncan Equine Group, despite us still being able to deliver to you your products and our awesome customer service, we’ve really had to work hard behind the scenes to make sure we were as stable as possible. In fact, we have been faced with many challenges that you may or may not be aware of.
1) Firstly, Shipping – Worldwide, there is a huge struggle with shipping. There is a greatly reduced amount of air freight, leading to a huge increase in sea freight. This has meant shipping delays due to lack of sea containers, lack of ships and lack of actual delivery trucks both to the ports and from the ports as freight lines are just overwhelmed with the global demands of the increase. Now the added blockage in the Suez Canal has added more mayhem to the madness as ships cannot get through the major shipping channel. Many businesses are experiencing delays with their stock. We have been fortunate and only having a few weeks wait. Unfortunately, the further we go into the year, the longer the delays seem to be getting. We endeavour to keep our stock supplies to meet orders; however, the short wait may continue for some time.
2) Price Increases – We have experienced continued price increases from our many manufacturer’s major components like plastic and steel prices increasing. There have also been delays in manufacturing due to raw material shortages worldwide.
We have been trying very hard to carry these price increases for quite some time to ensure our retail prices stayed the same. Sadly we just can’t do this anymore, and we are having to now pass these manufacturing and supply increase prices into our end retail prices. This means from April 15th 2021. Our retail prices will now reflect the recent increase we received. Please do not hesitate to contact Ben if you would like to discuss this further.