Shane Shifflett
Appearances
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
Some retailers, most of them that we've looked at and who we've talked to, they have paused shipments coming from China and other countries. They pulled some forward so that they're relying on some existing inventory so they don't have to raise prices. And some have even cut back on in-office perks as sort of a cost-cutting measure to be able to keep prices low in their stores.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
And many of the retailers are also pressuring their suppliers to keep prices low by shouldering the costs and absorbing the costs of tariffs, essentially.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
Suppliers are negotiating, but the retailers are in a position of power for the most part when it comes to these negotiations. Walmart is saying they're trying to work with their suppliers. It's not us versus them, but obviously those costs have to be made up somewhere. And Walmart's not going to absorb all of them. So they're not letting their prices increase.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
So those suppliers are going to have to eat the costs in some way.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
Independent merchants make up a huge portion of Amazon sales. It's something like 60%. These are independent companies who sell on Amazon and use its site to reach consumers. So they're working inside Amazon's system, which is tracking how much they're changing their prices and how quickly they're changing prices.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
So when they try and increase their prices, some of them have tried to increase their prices by as much as 30%. Amazon will take steps to essentially de-emphasize them. They'll also take steps to de-emphasize them if they raise their price well above what can be found elsewhere online.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
So they're really playing by Amazon's rules for a lot of these smaller third-party sellers that are working on the site.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
We've been tracking some 10,000 products since early January. A majority of those products that are on store shelves, they do come from China. So obviously there's a very big impact there. Retailers, suppliers and manufacturers all have this additional cost that has to be borne by somebody.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
And so even though, you know, in the last Trump administration, during the last round of tariffs, some companies did diversify their supply chains and move to other countries. China is still a major player here. And those tariffs are definitely going to raise the prices of some products. We're already seeing it in some cases with certain types of electronics, chargers, Bluetooth speakers.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
The full impact of those tariffs is yet to be seen, but it is something that will eventually appear in the prices that Americans pay. for products on the store shelves of Walmart, Target, or online at Amazon.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Retail Giants Have Kept Prices Low. But How Long Can It Last?
The full impact of those tariffs is yet to be seen, but it is something that will eventually appear in the prices that Americans pay for products on the store shelves of Walmart, Target, or online at Amazon.