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TAKING
STEPS
Wholesale’ s critical role as brands brace for the next wave of tariff impacts.
By Lisa Lopez
New US tariff policies have generated chaos for brands and retailers around the world. The first quarter of the year was spent in a whirlwind of rushed production to fill orders placed in advance of the initial reciprocal tariff deadlines set for February and April. Then the waiting game began. Everyone wondered if prices would rapidly increase, and if they did, if consumers would continue to make purchases. The race to move goods into US warehouses put brands and retailers at risk for long lasting overstocks if spending crashed. But throughout the spring and summer, rapid price hikes remained a rarity, and American consumers continued to shop even if they noticed that some prices had risen.
There are concerns that retail numbers in recent months could have been propped up by more people pulling forward their back-to-school and holiday purchases. There have been several reports on consumers adjusting the timing of their seasonal shopping to avoid paying more for goods once tariffs took effect. This could be one reason that retail sales defied expectations and once again rose, increasing 0.6 percent in August in the US. Some of the increase may also be
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