Lara Guevara walks through four supply chain shocks: 2018 tariffs, 2021 tariffs during COVID, and a recent tariff spike that spooked clients. She explains why DTC brands should treat sourcing as strategy, not cost, and how her team kept clients from bailing during crises by proving ROI.
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And I've seen that brands at this point right now is a lot more smarter. And I'm very happy to see that less panic, more solutions for these challenges. And I think we've been over the pandemic, the hardest one for me, I was in DTC already when that happened. And so 4 major disruptions since I started working with DTC brands and we're all getting through all of each of them. What are the 4? I know 3, what are the 4? Run us through it. One is the 2018 tariff. It's huge because it's the first Section 3 tariff 2021 in the US. Second is pandemic. And then third is the tariff again last year. Ah, okay. Major. We lost almost all our clients. Like, I think we just retained 5 last year because they panicked. They dropped us off and we said, "No, you cannot just drop us right now. The more you need us right now." And they took us back when they realized they need us in sourcing. And so it's like, Do not panic. We are extra cost for them, but it's an ROI when we found solutions for supply chain problems. That one is the third, and this is the fourth. So major disruptions. Go on. In my experience with KFC, I worked with KFC and I handled oil in KFC. Kentucky Fried Chicken? That's the biggest, the most expensive category is oil aside from chicken, but oil, I handle that. So it's a very different game way back 2009 when I was handling oil and there was also price increase. We ordered 6 months worth of oil because we have money and we have the reserve. You know, we have the money and we have the space space to stock 6 months of oil. And also our vendors in Malaysia can also have reserve for us. So it's a very different scenario. If you have money, if my client has money, then it's easier for supply chain. But in DTC, we're all lean, we're trying to save as much, lowering COGS is the name of the game, and it's not possible to just overorder everything.
