Back to our normal Friday publishing today, following our Thursday appearance last week - which included one suspiciously sheepish story that many of you spotted!

I do hope the Easter period went as well as possible for your dealership. The stocking problems which all are experiencing at the moment to varying degrees, won't have exactly helped. It's a situation which customers should be well aware of by now at least, hopefully meaning they are being understanding with delays. Certainly as the non-essential shops open up from Monday, it will be an issue which will gain more widespread attention. Presumably all stores which sell manufactured goods of any description, will be revealed as facing similar problems?

Our dealer panel, who we've been in regular contact with throughout the pandemic, have been talking to us about this impending situation for many, many months. They could see it was coming, predicting for some time that the beginning of 2021 was going to be fraught.

We're being told by our readers that it's a question of managing customer expectations currently. One dealer who responded to our recent request for feedback, told us, "It's manageable at the moment with most customers being aware of the issues. Very often "do you have one" is the first question rather than "how much" and customers seem to be more willing to order and wait once they have checked to see the online merchants are also out of stock."

Another in a similar vein said, "We are trying to only sell what we have on the shop floor today and avoid mentioning options that we don't stock. We have switched brands in some cases to keep product available, but I can see this year being difficult."

Its a problem which clearly isn't going to disappear overnight. However, as we progress through the months, with factories and logistics coming back up to speed, a slow resolution must come to pass?

Robotic revolution?

Bearing that in mind, it's encouraging to see companies in our sector looking forward and putting investments in place, to a time when society is back to some sort of normality.

A product area which appears to have great potential for huge expansion in the near future, is the use of robotic mowing solutions in commercial settings. We've seen greater acceptance of their use in large, private gardens in recent years - although we're still a way off our Scandinavian and European neighbours in that regard - but their use in professional environments still feels somewhat in its infancy.

It's interesting to read today then, how the GGM Group have staked their claim to this developing sector, by taking on a new distribution agreement with Swiss manufacturer Ronovatec for the autonomous RoviMo for use in sportsgrounds. MD Chris Gibson, describes the deal as " . .forging the path for things to come" - which seems like a pretty astute way to look at it.

It would be Husqvarna who you'd have to say has been really forging this path for commercial mowing robotics in recent years. Their high-profile usage in Edinburgh parks immediately spring to mind for example.

Speaking of which, I attended another of their Living City online events, a week or so ago. As well as including various expert speakers from around the world talking about methods for sustainable turf care, they teased a little more of what they are touting as a potential game-changer for this sector.

Called the Ceora, they still haven't offered a full look at their forthcoming robot, but once again hyped its ability to tackle very large areas - apparently up to 50,000m2. If I'm being honest, not much new was revealed about the machine since the last meeting I attended, except this time they did say that, inspired by their front riders, the Ceora's cutting deck has been purpose-built so it can be easily raised for accessibility and to allow for blade servicing.

One feels that a robot that can handle these sort of large, park-sized spaces, will really open up the market for more commercial end-users to consider their usage. The editor of TurfPro, our sister title for the sector, Laurence Gale says there's "no doubt in my mind that robotic technologies will continue to be developed", leading to ever greater acceptance and use.

All of which should be exciting news for specialist dealers. These machines need experts to sell, install and look after. Progressive dealers around the country are leaning heavier into their promotion, feeling the market will only continue to grow.

So whilst we're undeniably in a bit of a rut right now with all the restrictions and supply problems, it's only useful to look ahead with positivity. These things shall pass. And once they have there will be new technologies available, opening up new opportunities.