Supply Chain

The Rising Role of Logistics in Retail Strategy
March 7, 2019 at 1:03 pm

The success of a retailer has always hinged on its relationship with consumers, driving brand loyalty, repeat store visits and ultimately sales. So retailers have always set strategies that aim to provide optimal service for customers. In today’s increasingly e-commerce-driven and multichannel environment, retailers are shifting their strategies — with the same goal of providing…

Tariffs and Inflation: A Good Time to Forward-Buy Inventory? (Part 1)
March 5, 2019 at 1:29 pm

"Buy low, sell high" … If you took anything away from any Economics class, that’s probably it. Now that President Trump’s import tariffs have pushed inflation to the highest level in six years, many retailers and distributors are putting that strategy into play. In cases where suppliers pre-announce a price increase or promotion on a…

Delayed Tariff Increase on Chinese Goods a Relief to Retailers
February 25, 2019 at 3:05 pm

The United States is planning to delay additional tariffs on Chinese goods that were scheduled to begin on March 1, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday. In a series of posts on Twitter, Trump cited "substantial progress" in bilateral talks between the U.S. and China. As a result, the president said he would suspend the…

Tariffs: How Smart Retailers and Brands Are Handling the Trade War
February 19, 2019 at 11:24 am

The trade war with China has been cited as a primary cause of much of the recent economic volatility, from the stock market dive last fall to fluctuations in oil prices. While it's clear that tariffs are creating some level of instability as companies and investors try to guess what will happen next, many retailers…

How Drop-Shipping is Transforming the Retail Revenue Model
February 7, 2019 at 12:51 pm

In 2019, the only thing that’s certain for retailers anymore is this: the traditional business model isn’t working anymore. With 51 percent of Americans now preferring to do their shopping online rather than in person, retailers need to drastically change their business models to keep their customers coming back to their brick-and-mortar stores — or…

How the Postal Treaty Withdrawal Impacts Retailers
January 31, 2019 at 11:03 am

When shopping large online retailers, such as Amazon.com or eBay, it's impossible not to notice the seemingly impossible low cost of many China-sourced products. In fact, upon further inspection, it's often the case that all these extremely low-priced items even include free shipping. This begs the question: How can China afford to ship products to…

Top Shipping and Supply Chain Tips for 2019
January 23, 2019 at 10:05 am

Total Retail recently released its 50 Best Retail Tips of 2018 report, featuring valuable insights from our e-newsletter (Total Retail Report) and website over the course of last year. The 50 best tips were chosen by Total Retail's editorial team, and they cover nearly facet of running a successful retail business in 2019 and beyond.…