What a Tbilisi importer should count before the New Year rush
Before December orders, count the festive lines that die on 7 January, the staples that actually carry February, and the pallet positions you will not have when the dock is blocked.
Every November a Tbilisi importer asks whether to bring another container of festive groceries. The useful question is not “will people buy in December?” They will. The useful questions are which lines will still be on the shelf on 8 January, and whether the dock can take the pallet when three other trucks arrive on the same Tuesday.
Count three things, not the whole catalogue
First, the festive SKUs that looked clever last year and were still in the bay in March. Write the leftover quantity. That number is more honest than a vendor’s “this design is new.”
Second, the staples that carried February: tea, sugar, oil, rice, the unglamorous tins. Their days of cover in early January are often thinner than anyone admits, because the December labour went into stacking gift packs.
Third, empty pallet positions. A full warehouse in week two of December cannot receive the “just in case” extra. I have watched a truck wait in Gldani because the festive tower blocked the only turning bay.
Lead times in this country
Goods coming through Poti do not obey a calendar printed in another city. If your last four arrivals slipped, the New Year order needs to leave earlier, or the safety quantity on staples needs to be higher. Hoping the ferry is punctual is not a count.
What we put on the buying list
In a Visual Stock Review done in October, we usually cut a portion of the novelty festive lines, bring staple orders forward, and write a hard stop date after which no more gift packs are accepted from the traveller. The stop date is for the buyer’s spine. The warehouse already knows it; the office sometimes needs it in ink.