Start of Harrods summer sale delayed by supply issues

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 23, 2022

Shoppers awaiting the start of the renowned Harrods summer sale will have to wait a bit longer. The  luxury department store in London’s Knightsbridge has delayed its next sale season by a fortnight, blaming supply and staff shortages.

“Our supply chain is running two to three weeks behind where it should be,” managing director Michael Ward told Bloomberg TV at the Qatar Economic Forum.

“We’ve just delayed the summer sale for two weeks because I need another 10% of new-season stock to allow me to function into the new year,” he added.

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Management also said the delays have been exacerbated by post-Brexit staff shortages.

“It’s almost impossible to find the right staff. We’ve lost significant amounts of people as a result of Brexit,” he added. “And it’s not the skilled or qualified, it’s the people we need to do jobs that unfortunately the British will not do.”

Continuing problems with supply chain disruption were also highlighted earlier in the week by JD Sports Fashion, saying its sales performance had been held back by shortages of in-demand footwear.

Value fashion chain Prtimark also said this week that it was closely watching events in China, where lockdowns were affecting some factories and ports, threatening potential disruption to deliveries of stock.