Dear customer,
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Boba Box has continued to operate and evolve to bring the best experience to our customers. Throughout this period, we have adapted to the changes, improved our operations and made significant investments in the company, always thinking about our customers and their businesses.
Unfortunately, again, we are living in unprecedented times and continue to face challenges.
The global shipping conditions in the market, raw ingredient price increases, the incident with the vessel on the Suez Canal, along the recently imposed water ban from Taiwan's droughts, home to where our goods originate from, has brought increasing strain on our industry. These events, on top of an already challenging and fragile logistics environment, has created a global Boba shortage.
At this moment, several countries across the world are on the cusp of lifting lockdowns and stores begin to open their doors, suppliers from the United Kingdom, Europe and America are struggling to secure enough stock to meet demand.
We have followed the market, its trends and led the industry for over 11 years. Incidents and conditions like the current ones are unpredictable and we are all facing intense pressure and strain together. One example of this is certain production orders placed early this year will now only arrive in October 2021.
Our commitment to transparency towards our customers will help to manage expectations for your business. Our priority will always be for those who believe and share our values and are loyal to Boba Box. Therefore, to minimize the impact of the current volatile situation and to ensure we can maintain supply to our regular consumers (where there has been regular and consistent purchases over the last 12 months), we have had to make the difficult decision to:
- Block all new account openings temporarily
- Review all incoming orders
- Limit purchases that differ from normal consumption patterns
- Increase a few products' prices, from May 10
Whilst the global events are challenging, our experience in the market has helped us to prepare for this moment. We had already invested very heavily earlier this year to ensure we have healthy stock supplies in our warehouse and to be continually arriving throughout the summer.
The decisions we make seek to ensure that we can remain a high quality supplier who can reliably and consistently serve our regular customers, helping your businesses grow and expand after a year as delicate as 2020, meanwhile avoiding panic purchasing and being fair to the number of companies we supply to.
This is a provisional and temporary measure. We will constantly be reviewing it to ensure we remain fair and competitive and provide updates to you as the situation develops.
We will also be rolling out our loyalty scheme within the next few weeks to let you know how being a regular customer with Boba Box can help support your business, especially during these challenging times.
We thank you for understanding.
- Boba Box Team
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Industry Announcement - FAQ
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Are you refusing orders?
At present, we are reviewing each order against the previous purchase history and temporarily put a freeze to onboarding new customers who do not normally buy from us.
When will you be restocked?
We have regular shipments arriving throughout the summer, but certain product categories are being affected due to market conditions leading to longer lead times, as a result, we need to monitor and restrict sales on these accordingly.
I am a regular customer, why have you restricted or cancelled my order?
Whilst we operate under challenging conditions, we have made the decisions to ensure we can supply our regular customers with the products you have always relied on us for. If you regularly order, this will be in your purchase history and we are accepting all these orders.
Where mass purchasing has just started occurring in the last 1-2 months as the market conditions worsened, this will be reviewed and restricted.
If your order falls outside of your regular purchase patterns, we may restrict it to prevent panic buying. We take into account shop closures during lockdowns and a surge in buying patterns according to hospitality reopening.
If your order contains products not normally ordered from us, we may apply a restriction as those items were not part of your past purchase history and not accounted for as part of your regular volume.
I would like to become a regular customer, how do I become one?
That’s great news! We would love to onboard you when the markets stabilise. Please keep an eye on our website for further news and updates.
I would like to change my supplier and purchase from you instead – where do I begin?
As above, we would be delighted to onboard you as a new customer, but at present, we cannot accommodate new business.
Rest assured, once stability in the markets is restored, we will be accepting new accounts on a first-come first-served basis.
Why have you chosen to do business this way?
This decision was solely brought upon by the unprecedented market conditions and our goal to remain supportive and reliable towards our loyal customer base during these challenging times.
How are you reviewing orders? What are your limits? How frequently can we order?
This is reviewed against your regular purchase history, volume and orders.
We are applying limits based on the above and on the product category.
When will the market stabilise?
The root of the ongoing market instability stems from production capacity restrictions that were enforced due to water restrictions in Taiwan.
The global logistics was already fragile because of the pandemic and was further exasperated by the Suez Canal incident.
Both of these problems are beyond our control. However, rest assured we are closely monitoring the situation with our partners as it develops.
What about the payment I made?
When you make a payment, it is only deferred on your bank account, meaning the payment is pending until it is released.
We only take the payment after we dispatch the goods and only for the products that were sent.
If your order gets cancelled, the pending payment becomes void. We do not take the funds for these; however, it depends on your bank how long it will take for that to be reflected back into your account.
I am an EU customer, does this affect me?
All orders, regardless of geographical location are being reviewed.
What are the current lead times for deliveries?
Please allow 3-5 working days for delivery as the reviews on each order take some time.
Thanks for your patience during this challenging time and please keep an eye on our website for further news and updates.
Best,
Boba Box team
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