What happens when people want all the air fryers and then, suddenly, they don't

NPR ^ | July 25, 2022 12:28 PM ET | ALINA SELYUKH

[Red Badger]

After two pandemic years of stocking up on stuff – desk, chair, bookshelf, dresses, blender, knives – Rachel Premack is now all about travel and saving what she can. Last year, she had the stimulus dollars and nowhere to go; now, she's got weddings and family visits and worries about rising prices.

This, on a nationwide scale, became the recipe for a whole new problem for some U.S. stores: a glut of inventory.

"It is just a really bizarre back and forth kind of situation," says Premack, who has followed all this as an editorial director at the logistics outlet FreightWaves. "Inventory managers at major big box stores don't even know how to navigate what's happening anymore, they are just exhausted."

Big box stores like Target and Walmart are particularly working through an excess of certain items.

Target has specifically named TVs, kitchen appliances, outdoor furniture, electronics and fitness supplies, with the CEO saying the chain did not anticipate "the magnitude" of the spending shift from goods to services. Some clothing stores, too, such as Gap, got stuck with too many hoodies and athleisure as office workers quickly jumped back into suits and dresses.

"If you think about it, [stores are] ordering goods three, six, even nine months in advance," said Mark Mathews, vice president of research development and industry analysis at the National Retail Federation. "Retailers base their forecasting on historical behavior. But there is no template for what consumer behavior looks like coming out of a pandemic."

This year's hot retail term is the bullwhip effect.

It describes how dips or jumps in demand can get exaggerated by retailers, their suppliers and manufacturers. Take the pandemic darling, the air fryer. When demand suddenly rises, stores rush to avoid empty shelves, ordering a few extras just in case. Their suppliers also order extras from factories, which also make even more extras – until, abruptly, there are too many air fryers right as people are kind of done buying them.

What does that mean now? Shoppers might see sales on some items, such as storage baskets or armchairs, particularly at big box stores. More goods will go to liquidators and discount stores. But it also means another chaotic year for suppliers, like Curtis McGill from the Texas toy company Hey Buddy Hey Pal.

The other day, a large retailer completely rescinded a commitment to buy one of McGill's best-selling sets. A big toy trade show produced fewer orders, too, he said, by over a third. Stores are cautious about future demand – partly because of inflation uncertainty, but partly because their money is tied up in storing and sorting out the inventory glut.

"You could say for being in the toy business this last probably 12 month [period] has not been as much fun as it should be," McGill said.

The shopping frenzy has slowed but hasn't ended.

In the next few weeks, new data will show how long this inventory glut might last, said Jason Miller, who tracks retail inventories and sales at Michigan State University. Initial evidence suggests the retailers with bloated inventories are already starting to get things under control.

Still, importers continue bringing in near record-high amounts of goods to the U.S., he said. That's because even though last year's shopping frenzy has slowed, Miller said, people are still buying more products than they did before the pandemic.

[drSteve78]

Dittoes.

[Justa]

"It dried-up my salmon."

Gotta spray cooking oil on it after it's seasoned. Same with chicken and beef. Avoids burning and drying meats out. I use the Klystron air fryer. It has a glass window around the lid so I can monitor cooking.

They're great. Avoids heating and smelling up the house. Much faster than the oven.

BTW, this is just an NPR 'Ridicule-the-Middle-Class, Capitalism-and-Consumerism' article. They think a good society has no choice and is absolutely dependent upon The Party for meager subsistence of us worthless peons. That we serfs should be so grateful for their leadership and what we receive from their beneficence.

[Vermont Lt]

Fries and wings. We use it a couple times a week.

[aomagrat]

Air fryers, the bread machines of the 21st century.

[antidemoncrat]

We had an air fryer when they first came out. Was good but when it died we bought a Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fryer Oven. Awesome cooker.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I have an air fryer and I love it. I use it for everything.

[virgil]

I make chicken in an air fryer. I use a coating that I buy at the store. Good stuff.

[DCPatriot]

LOL! I’m loving this thread!!

[Boomer]

I picked up a 10 qt air fryer last week and love it. The secret is to spritz your food with good quality extra virgin olive oil (Kirkland organic is really good and fairly priced) or avocado oil. A good spritzer is also key. You want to cover it lightly, evenly, and not have a bunch of globs. “Misto” pump sprayer is very good for this. Don’t use any kind of canned aerosol oil with an air fryer. The chemicals in the propellant are hard on the non stick surface. I guess the same can be said for any teflon pan. Another reason the Misto is better.

https://www.amazon.com/Misto-Aluminum-Bottle-Oil-Sprayer/dp/B008C9UA9W/ref=sr_1_3?crid=149S5ZYODQY32&keywords=misto+sprayer&qid=1658781450&s=instant-video&sprefix=misto+sprayer%2Cinstant-video%2C147&sr=1-3

One of the first things I tried was boneless skinless chicken thighs dipped in egg then dipped in coconut flour. Nice sweet fresh taste with a nice consistency. 13 minutes, flip at 8 minutes and spritz again.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

A drone will deliver it and then pick it back up.

I heard someone spout that. And I asked them where it would deliver it to since you have no fixed domicile and why you would want to do all of that when you could just order the already prepared food?

It could not be for price because the cost of getting the machines to you along with the food would be far more costly.

And you would have to find a place to set up and plug in.

So this world makes no sense.

[FamiliarFace]

Me too. Just got an air fryer on sale two weeks ago. Have cooked with it twice, and it did great both times. Plan on using it again tonight. We will see how it goes, but so far, so good.

Like someone said earlier in the thread, it’s pretty much like a convection oven to me.

[reformedliberal]

... leftover pizza slices...
___________________

While I am satisfied w/the convection oven (*air fryer*) for re-heating pizza, it is simpler to do what I’ve always done: heat a dry skillet, add pizza, turn to low, cover, wait 15 minutes, turning pan a couple of times, and when cheese has remelted, eat and enjoy.

[Ponyexpress9790]

Works great on leftover fried foods, French fries, fish,onion rings, white castle burgers etc. We have two, one is like a large toaster oven, we cook pizza,Biscuits, frozen foods. Take it on your next stay at a hotel, save a lot on eating out, and can heat up the leftovers from Long John’s or KFC, or Popeye’s.

[Dawgreg]

Make sure you get a multi function air fryer. Mine does bake, fry, toast, convection and it’s always in use. Especially in summer because it doesn’t heat up the whole kitchen.

We do and I bake and reheat and onion rings/french fries on air fryer. The toaster part is good too

[MayflowerMadam]

“This is what happens when you have the most incompetent extremely stupid people in the history of humanity running the country”

Yes. We have a kakistocracy.

[MayflowerMadam]

What brand do you have?

[mylife]

indeed

[McGavin999]

I have GE. It’s great and keeps the heat down in the kitchen.

[CIB-173RDABN]

I was in Telephony leading up to Y2K (when every telephone system only used two numbers for years and so on 1.1.2000 the systems thought the date was 1.1.1900.)

1999 was the best year ever for the company I was working for. They were have million dollar months in sales of new phone systems.

Everyone was happy ...until, 2000 and they discovered everyone that was going to upgrade or buy a new system had done so.

Part of the business was selling to existing customers (upgrading their systems). In 2000 they were left with just new sales and installations which led to massive layoffs and a couple years later going bankrupt.

In effect they ate their seed corn.

[MayflowerMadam]

Thanks!