As September draws to a close, retailers and industry analysts are keeping their eyes on the ever-important holiday sales season. There’s just one problem, as Chain Store Age editor Zachary Russell underscored: U.S. retailers are staring down tariff-related stockouts, and the unhappy customers that come with them.
Citing recent survey data from GreyOrange, Russell indicated that there was a concerning trend of inventory problems facing American retailers, according to management figures.
Among the survey’s key findings:
- More than three-quarters (78%) of retailers polled indicated that they’d noticed customers are shopping earlier, or buying in larger quantities, to combat the likelihood of future price increases or stock shortages.
- Almost one-in-four (24%) retail managers stated that they were unable to locate stock which their inventory systems claim is readily available on a daily basis, and a majority (63%) said that they encounter this situation at least on a weekly basis.
- That’s a problem for shoppers: Management staff reported a mean of 14 upset customers a month in relation to the stockouts, and 77% said they had lost sales due to an inability to find stock quickly enough.
- There’s trouble brewing, too. Approximately half of the managers polled said that they’d be warned by higher-ups that price increases were coming (50%), or that inventory levels were expected to shrink (47%) as a result of the ongoing tariff situation.
- Speaking of tariffs, more than half (51%) of respondents indicated that they’d trimmed staffing levels over the course of the last six months. Of these, 59% have cut staff due to budgetary constraints, and 42% did so in response to sluggish sales. In related findings, 36% of retail managers said they’d skipped or delayed daily store tasking due to a shortage of workers needed to execute.
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