Costco’s situation highlights how a retailer’s supply chain can experience a multitude of challenges when faced with a force majeure event like COVID-19, an illness in the coronavirus family. Shoppers are turning to Costco to stock their pantries, but Costco is already dealing with the impact the outbreak has had on manufacturing and logistics in China.
Exporting U.S.-manufactured items to Asia and Australia has “been a little bit of a challenge because of some container shortages here,” Galanti said.