In my “2022 Year-In-Review” blog post that was published last month, I mentioned that the past few years have created an extremely unique business environment. On the consumer side, things have obviously returned to a much more normal state throughout the past two years. On the business side though, 2021 and 2022 forced Simmons to become much more agile in order to react to frequently changing market conditions. Despite this, Simmons managed to pull off our best sales year ever in 2022, which has both allowed us to invest in ourselves and placed us in a great position to manage whatever volatile market conditions come our way next.
The bottom line? We can’t see the future, but we can tell you what we’re seeing and give you an idea of what to expect from Simmons and the world in 2023.
The R-Word
In the United States, everyone is throwing around the R-word lately. Are we facing a recession in 2023? While Simmons’ footholds in several different industries do help business prosper during periods of economic strife, a recession is going to affect everybody. If demand drops significantly due to a recession, that’s certainly going to impact Simmons no matter how great we think we are.
The Rise of Inflation & the US Dollar
2022 saw inflation rise to new heights and that continues to be a concern going into 2023. I do think inflation is slowly improving, but it’s still very much something we need to manage in every purchase we make.
Similarly, I think the strong US dollar will continue to affect Simmons into 2023, albeit less than in the past year. We’ve already seen the US dollar return to levels last seen in April 2022, which we’d like to think is an encouraging sign for the near future, particularly where our exporting activities are concerned.
We know that fluctuations in exchange rates are always a concern for our international customers, and we are committed to helping our customers save money to reduce overall costs. These cost-saving measures can range from helping customers find a less expensive shipping method to identifying process improvements that can be made on the customer’s end. We’ll do whatever we can to remain a good partner for our customers.
Cost Increases
When we see cost increases on any of our inputs, whether they be with steel, grinding wheels, or packaging supplies, we try to partner with our vendors and get creative with ways to avoid cost increases. When that proves impossible, we certainly don’t just look to pass them on to our customers right away. We do our best to absorb them. However, if the time comes when we do need to increase prices for our customers, we generally do our best to keep those price increases as reasonable as possible so that we don’t impact their ability to be successful.
Investment in New Machinery & Process Improvements
As I mentioned previously, Simmons’ incredible 2022 performance enabled us to invest in some new machinery that should have a lasting impact on our business and product line. As a result, you should expect Simmons to introduce some new products as well as improvements to existing products in 2023, which is very exciting. Additionally, Simmons is looking to improve efficiency in many of our production processes which could potentially lead to some cost reductions for our customers in certain areas. Customers and prospects should look forward to a knock on the door from our esteemed sales staff with these new offerings.
Business As Usual
More than anything, we can’t wait to continue delivering high-quality blades at a good price when our customers need them, as we’ve done for more than 75 years. We’ve built a reputation that we’ll always come through for our customers. We want to continue to live up to that reputation and make sure our customers are our customers for a very long time, not just for a transaction or two.
Have any more questions about what to expect from Simmons Knife & Saw in 2023? Contact us today!
