The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows from operations. The extent of the impact of the pandemic on our business in the future, if any, will depend, in part, on the duration, severity, and location of any resurgences of infections.
Virtually all of our retail stores were temporarily closed for varying periods of time during the first quarter and into the second quarter of 2020 due to governmental orders and concern for the health and safety of our associates, consumers and communities. Broad shutdowns under government orders, particularly in Europe and Canada, were put in place again at the end of 2020, resulting in temporary store closures there that remained in place into 2021. Infection rate surges throughout 2021 resulted in temporary store closures for varying periods of time throughout the year, primarily in Europe, Australia and Asia. COVID-related pressures continued into 2022, although to a much lesser extent than in 2021 in all regions except China. Strict lockdowns in China resulted in extensive temporary store closures and significant reductions in consumer traffic and purchasing throughout 2022, and impacted certain warehouses, resulting in a temporary pause of deliveries to our wholesale customers and from our digital commerce business in the first half of 2022. COVID-related restrictions in China were lifted at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022.
Our brick and mortar wholesale customers and our licensing partners also experienced significant business disruptions as a result of the pandemic. Our wholesale customers and franchisees globally generally experienced temporary store closures and operating restrictions and obstacles in the same countries and at the same times as us. The impact of the pandemic on some of our brick and mortar wholesale customers resulted in them closing their stores, with several of our wholesale customers in North America filing for bankruptcy in 2020. Certain of our wholesale customers have also been subject to activist shareholder campaigns that can distract management, upset business plans and drain funds that could be invested in business operations.
The pandemic has impacted our supply chain partners, including third party manufacturers, logistics providers and other vendors, as well as the supply chains of our licensees. The vessel, container and other transportation shortages, labor shortages and port congestion globally, as well as slowdowns in factory production in some of our key sourcing countries delayed product orders, particularly during the second half of 2021 and throughout 2022, and, in turn, deliveries to our wholesale customers and availability in our stores and for our directly operated digital commerce businesses. These supply chain and logistics disruptions impacted our inventory levels and our sales volumes. We also incurred higher freight and other logistics costs in connection with these disruptions, which negatively impacted our gross margin.
Consumers have also been affected, and may continue to be affected, by the pandemic, resulting in adverse impacts on us. Concerns about the health risks in traveling, as well as consumers’ illness or unwillingness to shop in stores out of fear of exposure, has adversely affected traffic in our stores and our wholesale customers’ and franchisees’ stores. Consumer spending has been, and may continue to be, negatively impacted by job losses and reduced earnings power, inflationary pressures, and other factors. All these factors have negatively impacted, and might continue to negatively impact, our direct sales to consumers and our sales to our wholesale customers, due to lower sales of our products, and those of our licensees, through their sales channels.
Any or all of the foregoing could have a material and adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows from operations.