Almost everybody has found their plans mired in the coronavirus. From the retailers whose sectors they depend on have been closed down to holidaymakers whose travel plans have been limited, everyone has been left thinking of what will happen next. Most people have been forced to change their plans while others have halted them completely. As the holiday season gets closer, many retailers will soon start planning their 2020 season, if they have not begun already. While people in this industry have had it easy to forecast and diligently plan for such seasons and execute the holiday campaigns accordingly in the past, this year is a difficult one considering the challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The ever-rising customer demand is disrupting all sectors of the economy, leading to innovation among those who are in the supply chain and manufacturing sectors. Unlike a decade ago when customers would place an order and wait for a week or even a month, customers today are impatient. They place an order that should be delivered as fast as possible. This has been occasioned by the increased competition in the manufacturing industry and supply chain, as well as increased customer awareness. For example, with the rising number of companies such as Alibaba and Amazon, customers have become choosy and tend to purchase their products based on the time it takes for them to receive their item. For these customers to be satisfied and stay competitive in the current marketplace, companies are now investing in 3D printing technologies to come up with products fast and ship it to the customer at an acceptable time.

One of the leading topics of discussion that has emerged in almost every circle during the COVID-19 pandemic is the supply chain and the need to rethink this industry in general. The disruption of operations in this industry has also reiterated the need to deploy digitization and use virtual inventories. Using the approaches will encourage organizations to rethink their approach to supply chain and enhance their efficiency even during the time of difficulty as it is the case currently.