Drought in Amazonas forces retailers to adjust Black Friday plans
The worst drought in the history of Manaus—the capital city of Amazonas and the country’s main industrial park for electronic and technological goods—has raised the alarm for supply issues on Black Friday among chains that have not brought forward purchases for the period. As for Christmas, there are fears that the drought will affect the month of November, which could impact the delivery schedule to stores in December.The possibility of a shortage of goods has caused retailers to reorganize their sales strategy for the end of the year. If this scenario continues, Black Friday special offers could be limited. "As the fear of hurdles grows, it doesn’t make sense to create aggressive promotions to clear out stocks. If there was already a greater focus this year on preserving retail margins, this is now even stronger because of the drought, according to what we’ve heard from the chains," said an executive from a consumer research company on Thursday.Valor has consulted companies in recent days, and some have put contingency plans in place to deal with the problem. Of the 100 companies located in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, 36 have brought forward their December holidays, the Amazonas metalworkers’ union (Sindimetal) said on Thursday, because production has fallen due to the drop in the volume of inputs transported by river. Most of these companies are in the electronics and motorcycle sectors.The paid furloughs will begin between this week and the next one and is likely to last 10 to 20 days, Valdemir Santana, president of the union, said Thursday. Therefore, the period will go into the month of November, when "Black November" takes place on websites and in stores. Between 12,000 and 16,000 workers are involved in this temporary work pause.Samsung, Midea, SempTCL, and TPV (which owns the rights to the Philips brand) are on paid furloughs, according to Mr. Santana, bringing forward the work stoppage that usually takes place after Christmas. The production of televisions, monitors, and air conditioners, for example, has been affected.Samsung has approved paid furloughs for 1,500 people from October 30 to November 14. Multi (formerly Multilaser) has granted time off to employees with outstanding vacation days. The Brazilian company believes that its TV and router lines may be affected by the drought due to component supply problems.One strategy has been to bring in supplies from China by plane to feed the factory, Multi said in a statement to...
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