This fireside chat recap is from Wednesday, the second day of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Supply Chain Volatility: Where does the American consumer fit into this?
DETAILS: FreightWaves’ Geoff Lochausen and Ben Richey, senior director of transportation and distribution at Black Rifle Coffee, discuss where the company sees the American consumer in this volatile market and what it’s doing to deliver an amazing experience that aligns with its mission.
KEY QUOTES FROM RICHEY:
About supply chain volatility over the past 12 months:
“We’re seeing everyone get a lot more cost conscious for a lot of great reasons. With inflation, with savings at the lowest point it’s ever been, credit card use has skyrocketed, and then on top of that, you’ve got increased interest rates, it all starts to combine into a place where American consumers have to start getting really specific about what they’re going to reach for on the shelf.”
On handling cost-conscious consumers:
“I would say that the behaviors that we’ve seen industrywide, we’ve seen some trading down. Frankly, I don’t think Black Rifle Coffee Company has experienced that, and it’s because for us it’s the growth pattern that we’re in, entering and growing in different channels.”
On using FreightWaves SONAR to grow business:
“SONAR has been key to everything that we’re doing. We use so many of the dashboards to basically create [our] own crystal ball for what [we’re] doing. … So at some point, a private fleet or dedicated fleet becomes a play that we’re going to need to make. But when we do that, and how we do that and to what extent we do that is based on the market, it’s based on our cost, it’s based on how much of a return on investment we’re going to get from that.”