US-based Acme Smoke Fish is closing its direct-to-consumer e-commerce operations over concerns high labour, raw materials and shipping costs are hurting its business.
“Costs are rising everywhere, including labor, raw materials, and the cost of shipping individual packages of perishable foods overnight across the country – all of which are impacting businesses across the country like ours,” Acme Chief Marketing Officer Teresa Low told Seafood Source.
“Since the majority of our customers are able to shop locally again, we decided to keep 100 percent of our focus on our retail partners. The good news now is, people are leaving their homes again and supporting their local stores as they did pre-pandemic, where they can find a wide selection of our products a short drive away.”
“Next week, we will transition to shipping five of our most-popular bundles on a weekly basis, with our final shipments going out on Monday, 16 December,” she confirmed.
While Acme bolstered its e-commerce business during the Covid pandemic, amid restrictions and stay-at-home orders, demand has not been as strong for online sales in recent months, as people returned to normality. “It was a great business that allowed Acme to serve our customers directly,” Low said. “We certainly wouldn’t rule out a DTC business in the future if the customer demand is there.”
