You can add influencers to the list of those impacted by supply chain shortages.
With ports across the country still backed up, brands are warning customers of slow shipping and encouraging them to order early ahead of the holidays. These shortages are also creating uncertainty within influencer marketing, as brands don’t necessarily know if they will have enough stock to fulfill orders if a product ends up going viral.
“Supply chains are a real issue,” said Danielle Wiley, CEO of Sway Group, an influencer marketing company. “Why commit a lot of money when you don’t know what things will be?”
Some consumer packaged goods and direct-to-consumer brands are already having a tough time, said Gabe Feldman, business development lead at Viral Nation, an influencer and performance marketing firm, adding that he has seen brands move product launches because of supply chain issues.
Movers+Shakers had a client that couldn’t get gift boxes made in time and had to pull the related holiday ads, according to Evan Horowitz, its CEO and co-founder. Digital Brand Architects, another social influencer marketing agency, had a client ask for influencers to create content around a certain colored bag, then the bag color ran out, and another had to be swapped out last minute, according to CEO Raina Penchansky.
“With some clients, it’s the physical logistics issues that hold them up, not just getting all the component product parts,” said Alessandro Bogliari, co-founder and CEO of The Influencer Marketing Factory. Some brands have lowered their marketing budget to make sure they can address last-minute supply pivots.
During its October earnings call, Snap noted that some retailers were pulling back on marketing on the Snapchat platform because in some instances they didn’t have enough merchandise.