Design-led party supply company Ginger Ray has been speaking out against major high street retailers after many of them have put business completely on hold, leaving SME suppliers at risk of collapse.
Managing director Ben Spence has highlighted the difficulties being faced by small and medium enterprises which have been left fighting for survival after high street retailers have cancelled all future orders and put payments on hold, forcing many to the edge of administration.
Ginger Ray produces party product for major retailers such as New Look, ASOS, Hobbycraft, John Lewis and Urban Outfitters and is starting to feel the effects of the coronavirus lockdown – which, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, is costing the British economy £2.4 billion a day.
“We produce over six million units a year for high street retailers, and everything we had on order, including bespoke custom lines for some of our customers, has been cancelled,” said Ben.” We received a blanket communication from a global fashion retailer last week saying payments were on hold ‘indefinitely’, but they owe my business over £100,000 and some of the goods they were selling in-store before the lockdown.”
He continued: “Taking into account both seasonality and factory lead times, many of the goods we have ready to deliver were ordered and committed to up to six months ago, and yet now, we are experiencing cancellations as late as 24 hours before delivery. I have factories and warehouses full of goods, as high street retailers make up over 30% of my order volume.”
Just last week, a major department store corporation, who Ginger Ray works with in both the UK and USA, cancelled a bespoke order worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and said they would not be paying. “The goods have been designed and produced specifically for them, so I have no other route to market for them,” explained Ben. “It is devastating that I am forced into furloughing staff because businesses much bigger than mine have just decided not to pay us.”
