iParts4U Ltd

Many companies in this industry have purchased enough stock to last until their standard supply chains have returned to work after the Chinese New Year; however, when 3rd February came, suppliers were not able to return to work due to the crisis, which has meant many companies ultimately fell short of stock by the end of the second week of February, which caused panic buying across the industry. When their regular supplier ran out, many looked for alternative suppliers such as iParts4U, creating an unprecedented amount of orders, which has caused a supply strain on many of us. Although we usually hold stock based on our previous sales volumes to last us through to mid-March, due to the extra orders, this has even caused us to run low on certain lines. We have taken a number of steps to purchase cellphone parts and batteries for our mobile repairs and stock from other sources to allow us to continue to support our growing customer base. We understand that some suppliers in around Asia have claimed to return to work on a limited amount of staff, with the view to send any supplies they have previously had in stock to various companies throughout the rest of the world. This potentially could lead to a decline in the quality of screens coming out of China due to old stock, inferior quality parts or general quality loss due to understaffing. We have received information that there will be no new materials expected to arrive in Shenzhen, before April. Many of the LCDs, backlights and touch panel materials which are used in todays aftermarket screens are produced in and around Wuhan. As we currently understand, this is one of the highest-level quarantined areas, and no materials will be shipped while the area remains in this state, which will lead to a shortage of quality materials. This will also lead to an increase in price until this issue is resolved. We have been told this will likely last until May or June 2020, when production will start to stabilise with at least a further three months before prices return to where they were before.

We are expecting substantial increases over the coming months for all parts and materials coming out of Asia from our suppliers. Although iParts4U will attempt to absorb as much of these cost increases as we can; eventually, we may need to raise prices.

iParts4U has been in this industry for many years and have built some fantastic relationships with other mobile device parts wholesalers globally. We will be working with these suppliers to ensure that our customer base can stay working with quality parts at reasonable costs. We will be introducing new products where we are unable to supply the products we usually offer. However, we will make every effort to ensure the quality is kept to the same standard.

In a nutshell, we expect many repair shops will need to increase their prices over the coming months to cover the extra costs, we would also recommend that business stock up on parts before prices increase.