Jigsaw24 opens up on the difficulties of managing customer expectations due to chip shortages

Reseller says it has been left in an ‘odd situation’ while trying to get the right information about supply

Jigsaw24 says the global shortage in computer chips has led to "unrealistic expectations" among customers due to the difficulty in getting the right information from vendors.

A sudden increase in demand for electronics following decreases in chip production at the start of the pandemic, along with other factors, has led to a shortage of vital components like semiconductors.

And Jigsaw24 says the difficulty in managing customer expectations because of complications in finding out how long the shortages will last on key products has had an impact on business.

But the company, which specialises in Apple products, says the vendor has dealt with the chip shortages "better than most" given the demand for its products worldwide.

"We've seen a real different response from vendors," said sales director Tim Bodill.

"If there's a supply problem, then the more that's shared, the more people are aware of it, so it's less of a surprise when you have a conversation managing customer expectations.

"But when you've got a vendor saying, ‘no you can't tell anybody that we've told you that there's going to be a supply issue' and then you've got a customer on the other end of it saying ‘when can I have my installation please?' then it's a really difficult situation."

Lucy Randall, head of product management and procurement, also agreed, adding that the reseller has been left in an "odd situation" where it has had to hold "both the vendor and supplier to account" despite information from the two often differing.

"The information from the vendor and the distributor can differ so violently, in which case, who do you trust in that instance? Because quite often, we found that our distribution partners are doing all that they can," she said.

"But actually, when you've got the account managers who are under such tight shackles with regards to the information that they can distribute into the marketplace, then we're finding that customers have got real unrealistic expectations in some instances."

Apple hardware sales make up roughly 70 per cent of the business, they said, with the shortages most impacting its sales of workstations, notebooks and displays.

Vendor bosses have predicted the shortages will last into next year, and in some cases longer, with Randall also predicting the problem will last "a little while longer".

"There's been some instances where we've had lead time expectations of two to three weeks and then actually once the orders in place it's immediately set to six months," Randall added.

"And again, managing that with customers is just a very, very difficult conversation when the information coming from the supply chain isn't realistic or in any way reliable to some degree.

"We saw a temporary improvement probably around February time, but I think that that's sunk back again a little bit now and we're seeing a little bit more of the turbulence that we were getting used to last year."

Bodill says the impact of the pandemic created a "perfect storm" which led to chip supply falling short of demand and factories closing at the same time that some of the company's customers also stopped buying "run rate equipment" due to them operating outside of the office.

But he believes that Jigsaw24 was able to deal with the problem better than others and says the shortages could have been far worse than they proved.

"I think we've been slightly protected from the real impact of the shortages because of our Apple first relationship," he said.

"I don't think we've seen anything like the shortage that we could have seen. It wouldn't have been unreasonable if there were just no PCs available, because there was nobody manufacturing them.

"I have to say Apple have managed the situation exceptionally well given the ridiculous demand that they've had to try and fulfil."