Product Sourcing

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss how grocery store Kroger and drug store chain Walgreens are teaming up in an effort to cut supplier costs by buying merchandise together. The two companies are calling their partnership the Retail Procurement Alliance, and plan to identify an overlap in products…

President Donald Trump said Friday that as part of the U.S.-China trade deal Washington will not charge Beijing with any new tariffs and slightly reduce existing tariffs. He also said that “phase two” talks with China will begin immediately. The Office of the United States Trade Representative confirmed that the U.S. will be maintaining 25 percent tariffs on…

Grocery store Kroger and drug store Walgreens are teaming up. In an effort to cut supplier costs, the two companies want to start buying merchandise together, CNBC reported. The chain retailers will call this partnership the Retail Procurement Alliance, and will have them identifying overlap in products that they both are receiving so they can…

The retail industry is feeling the effects of 15 percent tariffs imposed on Sept. 1 on a wide range of consumer imports, and is bracing for the impact of their expansion to additional goods on Dec. 15. These tariffs cover a total of about $300 billion worth of imports from China. Increases on tariffs imposed…

In episode 221 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Nizzi Renaud, chief marketing officer at Zazzle, an online marketplace that allows designers and customers to create their own products with independent manufacturers. Listen in as Renaud discusses the unique ecosystem of Zazzle's marketplace, how its custom products are manufactured, and the wide…

Target Corp. introduced today Good & Gather, a private-label brand that features food and beverage products. Good & Gather, Target's largest owned brand launch, will be available in stores and online beginning Sept. 15. By the end of 2020, Target said the brand will include more than 2,000 products such as dairy, produce, ready-made pastas,…

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Sept. 1, as talks aimed at easing tensions between the world’s two largest economies continue. “Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small…

Lab-grown diamonds have become a popular choice among millennial consumers, however, many traditional diamond producers and jewelry retailers still keep lab-grown diamonds in their back rooms. At Spence Diamonds, a 40-year-old diamond retailer, man-made stones are put front and center as the focus of its business, while also still selling earth-mined diamonds. Spence Diamonds reports…

Ikea plans to close its only U.S. factory site and shift operations to Europe. The Swedish furniture company’s Danville, Virginia, manufacturing facility will close in December, cutting about 300 jobs, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company said its production costs in Europe will be lower and that importing the goods will make its products more affordable in North America,…

The global cannabis market could be worth $32 billion by 2022, and consequently presents huge opportunities for retailers. While the transition from prohibition presents huge opportunities, it also presents huge challenges. BDS Analytics commented that 2018 was a year of "constantly diminishing forecasts," as retailers struggled to compete against the black market in a heavily…