German Retailers Fear Supply Problems Will Last until Mid-2023
German retailers are bracing themselves for supply problems to persist for another full year. In June, 75.7 percent of retailers complained that they did not receive all the goods they ordered, a drop from 80.1 percent in May. This is the finding of an ifo Institute survey. “This Christmas, there will once again be some empty shelves,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo. “Supply problems have become a chronic issue for retailers.”
Bicycle dealers are expecting their supply problems to last a further 18 months, the longest estimate of all the groups surveyed. Car dealerships also predict that their bottlenecks will persist for more than another year, and it’s a similar story for furniture dealers. The clothing industry and supermarkets expect shelves to fill up sooner, at 9 months and 8.2 months respectively.
The situation for food retailers has eased somewhat: while almost 100 percent reported still experiencing procurement problems in May, that figure dropped to around 77 percent in June. The proportion of clothing sellers with such problems also fell, by just under 10 percentage points from 64.5 percent to 54 percent.
