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If you haven't noticed, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every facet of business today. Take a loop around your supermarket, you will notice some of your popular brands missing from the shelves. One of the main reasons for this, two years post COVID-19 shutdown, is the lingering effects of global supply chain issues. These effects have even wreaked havoc on the skincare industry, specifically the packaging of skincare formulations.
While Inspira Skin's medical grade skincare ingredients are sourced and produced in the United States, the same cannot be said for most if not all skincare packaging. The pandemic has exposed the negative effects of depending on manufacturing overseas. With only 8% of products manufactured in the United States, the demand for products manufactured overseas has increased tremendously.
The fragility of the United States' dependence on the supply chain was exposed starting in the fall of 2019, and we are still feeling its effects. During the pandemic, factories were closed for months, orders increased and created huge backlogs. Once factories opened, there was a shortage of manpower while production slowly tried to ramp up. Factories tried to meet demands but were also facing shortages of raw material, plastics, and supplies. They have been trying effortlessly to meet high demands which put unforeseen stress on the freight forwarders who ship the goods. This high demand with lack of supplies has led to a volatile environment. Unfortunately, delays did not stop there. Once the products were placed on the ships, they have been unable to get to the ports based on traffic jams at the ports. Even though products were on the ships, there is a lack of workers working the ports to get products off cargo ships.
How has global supply chain issues affected skincare packaging?
There is a shortage of packaging materials
Due to high demand and a shortage of supplies, packaging costs have skyrocketed
Packaging from Asia and overseas has more than tripled in cost
Freight costs have gone up a minimum of 30%
Packaging that once took 2-3 weeks are now taking 6-9 months to get to the United States
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