Ty Warner, owner of the largest manufacturer of soft toys in the world, today revealed his own unique strategy for confronting the global supply chain crisis. Going his own way – as he always has – Warner last month began air shipping his products into the U.S. for distribution here.
Warner’s Ty Inc. is circumventing bottlenecked seaports and investing millions of dollars to air-freight Beanie Babies and Beanie Boos from China, where they are manufactured. With the typical cargo flight costing anywhere from $1.5 to 2 million, Ty has financed more than 150 air shipment flights since October, and the shipments continue.
“The widely-reported problems with global supply chains have cast a pall over the coming Christmas. There’s too much doom-and-gloom out there,” Warner said. “I’m here to tell our customers that, despite what they might have read or heard, Christmas is not cancelled.”
“Small retailers should take heart, too,” added Warner. “While retail giants like Amazon, Target and Walmart might get preferential treatment from some vendors, they don’t from us. We do not sell to them.”
The Beanie flights are originating in airports in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong – as well as other locations in China – and land at O’Hare International Airport. Once there, the Beanies are unloaded and carted to Ty Inc’s suburban Chicago headquarters for further shipping.
In spite of the increased shipping costs, Ty has not raised prices on its products or shipping, which still sell for $5 to $10, Warner said.
And while industry analysts believe the supply chain crisis will drive even more traffic to national chains like Walmart, Target and Amazon – and will hurt smaller retailers who struggle to find product – Ty’s tactic does the reverse. In fact, Ty sells only to specialty retail, grocery, drug and convenience stores, and Ty is the largest manufacturer of soft toys in the world.