How will QVC warehouse fire affect orders?
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After a large fire heavily damaged a QVC and HSN warehouse in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the company announced the blaze will likely have significant impacts on its order fulfillment and returns, but is already proactively working to minimize the effects.
The fire broke out Dec. 18, 2021 and killed one person.
Parent company Qurate Retail Group said in a statement that the facility handled approximately 25 to 30% of its volume for both QVC and HSN and was also a primary return hub.
The company has started taking stock of what inventory can be salvaged and shipped and has already started diverting orders away from the warehouse to one of its other facilities for fulfillment.
Meanwhile, it is exploring possibilities for alternate locations in the region to handle fulfillment or returns.
Customers whose orders are affected by the fire are being contacted individually and QVC is asking customers not to contact customer service about concerns with orders that the blaze may have affected.
Customers can continue to ship returns to the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, address. QVC is working with its carrier partners to reroute packages returned to the address automatically.
Returns sent to the facility may have a delay in processing time. QVC says using the Q Return Label may speed up return processing.
However, customers who already returned an item to the Rocky Mount location for an exchange will not receive the replacement order. Shoppers can contact customer service to see if placing a new order is possible and the company said it will honor the original price if the item is in stock.
QVC says it is working with local officials to determine the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage, but it appears the facility will be heavily impacted for some time.
The fire comes right before the holidays. QVC, like most retailers, is already battling with supply chain and inventory issues along with shipping delays.
The blaze appears to have destroyed the “main section” of the 1.2 million square foot facility where 3,000 people worked. Crews from over 45 firehouses were called to battle the blaze.