Vizio says it's helping shipping partners hire truck drivers and warehouse workers so that TVs reach stores in time for the holiday season

truckers — Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Vizio CFO Adam Townsend said the company is using its expertise to help shippers hire workers.
The company said its work has helped it bring electronics into stores in time for Black Friday.
Over the past year, shortages of truckers and warehouse workers have worsened the supply-chain crisis.

Supply-chain snags have forced Vizio to find creative ways to keep store shelves stocked ahead of the holiday shopping season.

The tech company's CFO Adam Townsend told investors during the company's earnings call on Tuesday that Vizio is assisting its third-party logistics partners in their search for truck drivers and warehouse workers.

"Our group's been around for a long time. They have really great relationships and a lot of experience in this area," Townsend said. "So they've been able to get involved and mitigate these challenges as much as possible."

Over the past year, national labor shortages, particularly at warehouses and in the trucking industry, have exacerbated the supply-chain crisis. While consumer demand has boomed since the pandemic started, key parts of the US supply chain have been running under capacity - threatening companies' holiday inventory.

It currently takes an average of 73 days for shipments from China to the US to reach their final destination, according to data from Freightos, an online freight marketplace. But, Christmas is in 45 days.

"We have to work extremely hard to replenish inventories ahead of the holiday season," Vizio CEO William Wang told investors, noting that Vizio has "strategically invested" to expedite the shipping process. "This tactic has allowed us to mitigate supply chain disruptions and be confident that our product will be on the store shelf as we head into Black Friday," he added.

The company did not specify when it began assisting in the recruitment process for supply-chain workers. Vizio is one of many companies to take extra steps to evade shipping delays. Earlier this year, several major retailers, including Walmart and Home Depot, said that they have begun chartering their own ships and flying in goods in order to satiate consumer demand.

Townsend explained that the company's efforts to expedite shipping cut into Vizio's profit margins, but he expects the investment will pay off in holiday shopping sales.

Despite the extra costs, the company's net revenue in its third quarter trended slightly upwards as compared to the same time the previous year, in large part due to Platform Plus, the group's smart TV and advertising ecosystem.

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