2018 was dubbed an “unprecedented year” for the transportation industry. We were so young and naïve then! Now we know 2018 was a practice run for 2020. Most companies have contingency plans for cyberattacks and natural disasters — very few had a plan for a pandemic. Although the reasons differed, the result was the same: Demand for trucking capacity exceeded supply.
Working for the world’s largest home improvement retailer comes with great responsibility, especially when the business is identified as “essential.” With customers forced to spend time at home, sales increased significantly, and our shipment volume increased even more. Our e-commerce business experienced Cyber Monday volume for numerous consecutive weeks, without the normal year-long planning process established for large-volume events. Remaining open while many sheltered-in-place required extensive investment, as our associates’ and customers’ health remain the company’s priority.
How did we manage it all? We pivoted by adjusting our supply chain and store operations to respond to customers’ needs.
We partnered with our carriers to significantly increase capacity, which was already constrained; and we created new relationships where necessary. Providing convenience in a very inconvenient time, we launched car and van service capabilities from all 2,000+ stores in less than a month. We introduced curbside service, which had been just a twinkle in someone’s eye to be carried out years later. And in just three weeks, it was offered at all stores, and our customers loved it. With the increase in demand, we needed to get product to the stores faster, so we implemented alternative flow paths of key products.
2020 will certainly go down as yet another “unprecedented year,” but particularly a year that demonstrated our ability to be flexible and agile. For us, it’ll be the year that showed us we can pivot on a dime.