How to Prepare for The Chinese New Year Shutdown 2024?

Chinese New Year (February 10th to February 17th, 2024), also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is a traditional festival in China. However, preparations for the holiday typically begin three weeks before the actual holidays, and the celebration activities will usually last until the Lantern Festival(February 24th, 2024).

Each year of this time, which is called the Chinese New Year shutdown, can be challenging for businesses sourcing from China. There will be a significant impact on the supply chain as employees take leave in advance, manufacturers stop production early, and shipping companies will also limit operations with the holidays approaching.

So, to avoid product supply shortages and shipping delays during the holiday shutdown, it is critical for you to plan and prepare ahead. In this article, we will discuss the potential impacts of CNY 2024 on your business and what you can do to avoid supply chain disruptions as possible.

 

How Will The Chinese New Year Affect Your Business?

 

The Chinese New Year shutdown mainly affects dropshipping and businesses that mainly source products from China. To be fully prepared, it is important to understand what the Chinese New Year shutdowns are and how they may affect your business through supply chains.

 

Product Supply Shortages

 

As the Spring Festival approaches, suppliers and Chinese manufacturers will be the first to stop work. Entering January, the overall production in China will slow down. Most manufacturers will gradually shut down, and they won’t resume supply until the end of February. During such a long period,  you will face the risk of product supply shortages and stockouts, which will have a significant impact on your business. 

If you do not communicate with your supplier about your sales plans and stock up on sufficient inventory in advance, once the supplier or manufacturer of your product shuts down,  finding a replacement during the CNY holidays can be really hard.

 

Shipping and Delivery Delays

 

Most shipping companies will begin to limit operations as Chinese New Year approaches and stop picking up packages, shipping, and delivering a few days before the Spring Festival. And they won't resume operations until at least after the holidays. Only a few shipping companies continue to work during the holidays. 

So, the shipping and delivery times may be affected from now on and shipping costs can rise at the end of the year. To ensure timely delivery during the holidays, you may have to switch to shipping methods that are still available but may cost more than usual.

 

Slow Supply Recovery After The Holidays

 

After the Spring Festival, most employees will return to work and manufacturers will gradually resume production, but there may still be labor shortages in a short period. 

On the one hand, some employees will leave for new jobs and manufacturers will have to hire new employees. On the other hand, manufacturers will face a large number of orders accumulated during the shutdown period, and the overall delivery time may be delayed.

 

Increased Quality Issues

 

Before the holidays, some manufacturers will rush to work in order to take leave early. And after the holidays, they will hire new employees, who will then replace the skilled employees. All these factors may lead to an increase in product quality issues. 

So, to avoid your customers receiving substandard products, it is crucial to ask your suppliers to strengthen product quality inspections before and after the Spring Festival.

 

Chinese New Year ShutDown Timeline 2024

 

Suppliers and manufacturers will slow down or even stop production the time before the holiday starts. However, the specific shutdown time varies. It is recommended to ask your suppliers or manufacturers about when they will stop supply and plan ahead if necessary. You can first refer to the following Chinese New Year timelines of 2024:

 

 • Early to mid-January: Production begins to slow down.
 • End of January: Manufacturers begin to stop production.
 • Early February: Most employees start to leave for the holidays, and logistics begin to shut down.
 • February 9:Chinese New Year's Eve, almost all employees stop working.
 • February 10: Chinese New Year
 • Mid-February: Employees start returning to work and logistics gradually resume.
 • February 24:The Lantern Festival
 • End of February: Most manufacturers resume production.
 • Early March: Almost all operations return to normal.

 

The Chinese New Year Holiday Schedule 2024 of SourcinBox

 

 

Notes:

1. Please check with your customer manager to know about the exact holiday schedules of the manufacturers for the products you're selling. And buy inventory in advance if necessary.
2. During the festive period, our customer managers are still available to respond and resolve your issues, which may take a little longer than usual.
3. We continue to ship from 13rd Feb. It is recommended to buy inventory as soon as possible before Febuary to ensure that the products can be warehoused before the holidays, and can be shipped right after the holidays.
4. "Stop Shipping" means the shipping company will still collect and process packages but will NOT ship packages.
5. The shipping companies DO NOT collect, process, or ship packages during their holidays.
6. Please check with your customer manager about the specific pickup deadline of the shipping method you are using, and place your orders as soon as possible.

 

What Should You Prepare Now?

 

With the uncertainties and force majeure factors, what preparations can you make now to avoid or minimize the potential impact of the Chinese New Year shutdown on your supply chains? Based on our experiences, we have summarized the following tips for you.

 

Plan Early

 

A comprehensive plan is required to set your business smoothly for the next two months. It includes your marketing plans, sales plans of your products, inventory planning, and other plans to deal with emergencies. 

You can consider appropriately reducing your advertising budget during the Spring Festival to avoid sudden order volume increases that may cause stockouts and delivery delays. It is recommended to plan and prepare some inventory for the products you are selling based on your estimated sales volume for at least one month. 

 

Communicate with Your Supplier

 

Close communication with your supplier can help you respond to shortages, delays, or any other potential problems throughout the Spring Festival in a more timely manner. The first thing you should do with your supplier now is to confirm the available inventory and shutdown time of the product manufacturer. If your products are already out of stock and stop production, then you should look for alternatives as soon as possible!

At this time, working with private suppliers will be risky as they usually stop accepting orders early before holidays. It is recommended to work with trustworthy China sourcing agent platforms like SourcinBox, who have extensive experience in dealing with Chinese New Year shutdowns.

If you are working with SourcinBox now, it’s time to communicate with your customer manager about your sales plan and inventory needs. And don’t be too stressed out about product shortages, there’s still a chance we can help you find alternative manufacturers to save your business. Just to be sure, it's a good idea to plan some inventory ahead of time.

 

Prepare Inventory in Advance

 

If you have a sufficient budget, you can purchase an appropriate amount of products in advance from the manufacturer as inventory. And finding a sourcing agent who can hold inventory for you in China during the CNY shutdown will be necessary. Remember that your inventory planning should include your current products as well as what you plan to sell in February(after the Spring Festival).

For SourcinBox users, after confirming with your customer manager, you can then easily pre-purchase the inventory you need on our app. We will source the corresponding quantity of products from the manufacturer and store them in our warehouse for free after checking the quality. And our warehouse will be operational until the last minute before the holidays to process your orders and resume working early before the holidays end to ensure as timely shipping as possible.

 

Consider Alternative Shipping Options

 

Most shipping companies will only take a short off for the Spring Festival to cope with the continuous demand for orders. Since there may be manpower shortages before and after the holidays, the shipping capacity will be limited. It is recommended to consider alternative shipping options and increase the budget for shipping, which is important to avoid delays and gain the trust of your customers.

On SourcinBox, there will still be available cost-effective shipping options during the holidays, you can keep in touch with your customer manager to learn about what shipping methods you can use as the holidays approach and make necessary adjustments.

 

Strengthen Your Customer Support

 

During the special period of the Chinese New Year shutdown, it greatly counts to strengthen customer service. When facing increasing customer issues, timely and effective solutions can reduce bad reviews and refunds at the root as well as increase store credibility. Besides, you can provide clear return and refund policies and after-sales support contact information in the store to deal with customer problems on time and also improve customer satisfaction and retention.

Of course, keep a close eye on the status of your orders by keeping a close contact with your suppliers. Provide timely feedback to your customers for out-of-stock and shipping delays. For unavoidable situations, remember to change the inventory information, shipping method, and delivery timeliness displayed in your store in advance. Notification via email or social media to your customers with a sincere apology can win you more favors.

 

Let SourcinBox Take Care of Your Supply Chain

 

In preparing for potential problems during Chinese New Year 2024, please keep in touch with your customer manager for timely solutions. You can also keep an eye out for our latest notifications on various platforms which will update with the latest information. We'll respond to you as soon as possible and help out with any concerning issues even during the holidays. 

We sincerely hope this article can give a hand to businesses sourcing from China. Plan ahead can effectively avoid possible losses caused by supply chain disruptions and shipping delays. If you want to work with SourcinBox and buy inventory now, please sign up for free and contact us to enjoy 1-on-1 customer manager service. We will do our best to escort your business during the Chinese New Year.