The furniture retailer Malouf sells beds and bedding in a fraction of the colors it did a few years ago. Newell Brands, the Sharpie maker, has retired 50 types of Yankee Candle. Coca-Cola offers half as many drinks.

Covid slashed consumer choices as companies pared their offerings to ease clogs in the supply chain. The logistical mess is behind them. But many of the choices aren’t coming back.

Retailers and suppliers across industries—from groceries to health, beauty and furniture—have said that it didn’t pay to offer products for everyone, and consumers didn’t care that much when they stopped.

Robotic trucks may face an uphill climb on public roads, but automation is claiming a place in freight yards and warehouses.
An autonomous, self-driving forklift by Atlanta-based warehouse technology and equipment provider Dematic. PHOTO: DEMATIC
Autonomous trucks may be running into trouble on the highway, but the technology behind self-driving vehicles is getting traction deeper inside shipping operations in freight yards, warehouses and seaports.
Kimberly-Clark credits hundreds of autonomous forklifts with helping the consumer-products company keep Kleenex facial tissue, Cottonelle toilet paper and other goods flowing to stores despite labor shortages during the Covid pandemic. Sharpie maker Newell Brands says the vehicles are helping deliver safety improvements and cost savings across the company’s operations.

Companies looking to establish resilience in the wake of the pandemic already are putting rebuilt sourcing and logistics strategies to work. Companies that assembled new supply chain strategies in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic are having to put those plans into practice far faster than they may have thought possible.