In a pandemic world where inventory is king,
The company, which beat analysts' expectations with its latest quarterly results on Thursday, said it purchased a 25 per cent stake in a B.C. inland port facility.
The
"Our retail supply chain is a monster machine that needs to do its job before the customer order gets fulfilled," he said during a conference call.
"This
His comments came as the company posted a second quarter revenue of
Analysts on average had expected
Despite the strong results,
Many of its retail stores, which include banners like
"We left sales on the table in Q2 as a result of the restrictions," Hicks said. "But despite the closures, restrictions and some headwinds around transportation and supply availability, we continue to move product through our supply chain at significantly elevated levels."
He added: "We leverage relationships with vendors, transportation providers, and third-party logistics facilities to get inventory to the dealers."
TJ Flood, president of the
"Since the beginning of the pandemic, with a strained global supply chain, our strategy has been to be aggressive in securing inventory to fill the customer demand that exists," he told analysts. "We've continued to deploy this strategy throughout 2021."
The company has placed a renewed focused on strengthening its supply chain given that securing inventory is expected to be an ongoing issue, Flood said.
"The global supply chain continues to be strained and things could be choppy ... but we continue to work with our vendor partners every day to explore innovative ways to navigate the supply chain," he said.
For example, the company recently chartered three vessels with 2,000 containers each to transport goods — the first time ever the retailer has chartered its own boats, Flood said.
Yet rising freight costs have created some "inflationary pressure," Flood said.
"We've built strong capabilities to help us navigate this inflationary pressure and manage our margin rates," Flood said. "We're not going to give an inch on being priced competitively."
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:CTC, TSX:CTC.A)
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