Quick FYI - Ever heard of the bullwhip effect?

It’s almost that time of the year again: Black Friday is just around the corner. Every year millions of people wait for the big discount day to buy Christmas gifts and more – at a reduced price.

Events like this can create a problematic logistical phenomenon: the bullwhip effect. The bullwhip effect is caused by fluctuations in and misjudgment of demand in a multi-staged supply chain. This can be caused by a lack of transparency at the individual levels and poor communication. The individual actors within a supply chain oftentimes don’t pay attention to the end customer’s demand, but rather rely on information from the previous link in the supply chain.

As a result, more products are manufactured than necessary, which then are not consumed.