The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shelter-in-place protocols have devastated the airline industry. Along with it, airports across the country, rife with retail, have suffered significant losses. As cancellations of business trips and vacations mounted beginning with the onset of the outbreak in mid-March, traffic from travelers plummeted. The ... READ MORE >
Consumer Products
From retail to restaurants, the consumer products industry includes many sectors and subsectors. The industry also involves many well-known brands with loyal customers and employees, and ownership structures ranging from family-owned businesses to public and private equity-backed companies.
May retail sales soar, but will it continue?
Retail sales soared by 17.7% in May, the biggest month-over-month increase on record, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. The May figures, which easily beat analysts’ estimates but are still below pre-pandemic levels, was most likely fueled by a combination of pent-up demand and stimulus checks received in late April and early May. While ... READ MORE >
Retail lessons from the RSM US Middle Market Business Index
While it’s no surprise that middle market retailers were hard hit by fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, proprietary RSM data underscores this vulnerability. Some 44% of U.S. retailers lost domestic revenue because of the pandemic, while nearly half experienced disruptions to U.S. operations or production, according to a special industry oversample ... READ MORE >
Amid chaos of coronavirus, food and beverage sector continues to adapt
The retail sales figures released this week painted a grim picture of consumer spending and the state of the economy amid the mounting human and economic toll of the coronavirus. But a deeper look at the data reveals some profound changes taking place that will most likely endure once the pandemic passes. While retail sales fell off the table with an 8.7% ... READ MORE >
What middle market companies can learn from Nike about managing disruption
Last week, Nike surprised investors in its earnings report when it revealed that sales in China had declined by only 5% for the quarter ending February 28. While China is a key growth market for the apparel and footwear giant, the decrease demonstrated how well Nike had navigated a nationwide shutdown of its stores while consumers were confined to their ... READ MORE >
Retailers and restaurants should consider the CARES Act
On March 27 the president signed the CARES Act into law, providing $2 trillion in aid for individuals and business throughout the United States. Great uncertainty exists within the middle market as companies scramble to determine what programs are available, whether they are eligible, and how they can take advantage of the help available to them during one ... READ MORE >
How middle market retailers can position themselves to survive coronavirus, and Amazon
Just as middle market retailers were scrambling to figure out how they would handle the fallout from the coronavirus and maintain their businesses, the industry’s behemoth, Amazon, weighed in with its own plan. Usually, these announcements carry ominous news for small and medium-size retailers. But this announcement from Amazon was different, and in fact ... READ MORE >
Coronavirus impact on the consumer products ecosystem
Supply chain In a very short period of time, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on economies throughout the world and across all industries and sectors. The earliest stages of the U.S. consumer supply chain are heavily dependent upon China. That means the work stoppage caused by the virus had a significant impact on production of new goods, ... READ MORE >
For apparel industry, optimism over China trade deal gives way to concerns over virus outbreak
When middle market fashion and apparel leaders weighed moving production from China after the onset of tariffs in the second half of 2019, a global virus outbreak probably wasn’t part of the equation. Nonetheless, companies that elected to keep sourcing from China are faced with a new wave of uncertainty, especially with an overnight surge in confirmed ... READ MORE >
Betting that size matters: Macy’s closures on trend in retail
The number of store closings in the retail industry is widely publicized. Many media outlets cite data published by Coresight Research, which tracks store openings and closings in the retail ecosystem. Closings reached a record high of 9,302 in 2019, and 2020 is off to an equally troubling start, as Macy’s announced 125 store closings—amounting to roughly ... READ MORE >