Food retailers experienced better profit margins in June as they passed along price increases to customers while their costs from suppliers dropped. This relief marked a welcome change from recent years, when their ability to pass along rising food costs met stiff resistance from consumers. The ... READ MORE >
Consumer products
Retail sales rose 7.5% in June as economies reopened
June retail sales were strong for a second straight month, fueled by the reopening of economies across the country and the continuation of pent-up demand from lockdowns earlier in the year. Overall retail sales rose by 7.5% in June, which followed May's record 18.2% gain, the Commerce Department ... READ MORE >
Miles away: U.S. airports face heavy lift and slow recovery
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 ... READ MORE >
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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... READ MORE >