{"id":1075,"date":"2025-05-06T23:06:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T23:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lightingnewsnow.com\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2025-05-07T13:16:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T13:16:58","slug":"how-to-improve-business-during-the-tariff-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightingnewsnow.com\/?p=1075","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Business During the Tariff Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mark Schumacher<\/a>, a furniture industry insider and contributor to sister publication Home News Now<\/a>, spoke with Billy Lindler, president & CEO of USSI<\/a> \u2013 a firm that provides engineering consulting and warehouse solutions \u2013 to discuss ways that retailers can use current conditions to better their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tariffs are not the only topic of concern to retailers, according to Lindler. \u201cEveryone\u2019s talking about tariffs, but there is also a lot of business uncertainty. It\u2019s a tough environment for capital spending on new warehouses and showroom construction. And, on top of that, the cost of materials has gone up \u2014 steel has gone up 42% since January,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some key things that retailers should be paying attention to right now? For one, pay closer attention to what is in your warehouse. Use the slowdown in showroom activity to evaluate exactly what you have in your warehouse and consider re-engineering the processes you don\u2019t have time for when you are busy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with one client whose strategy was to have a backroom warehouse at every showroom, but now they\u2019re thinking, \u2018Hey, we don\u2019t need two trucks at every showroom for the three or four deliveries we make each day. Let\u2019s have more centralization, fewer vehicles, and less handling of product and use this situation as an opportunity to get more efficient.\u2019 That lower tide in the marketplace shows where the rocks are and where we can, operationally, make some improvement,\u201d Lindler explained.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hit the warehouse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you are a single showroom or have multiple stores, it\u2019s time to go into your backroom and look at how you are utilizing that space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother retailer we work with is looking at their inventory and determining what isn\u2019t saleable,\u201d Lindler advised. \u201cMaybe that means you have two pieces of a sectional sofa, but you don\u2019t have the other pieces. Or you have the nightstand, but none of the other pieces in the bedroom set. Or you have product that isn\u2019t on display anywhere, and so it\u2019s not going to move out of the warehouse because the customer doesn\u2019t see it in the showroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Lindler, it\u2019s a good time to perform more intensive inventory management. \u201cSome retailers are getting very analytical. There is a lot of talk about AI, but this step involves straight-up business intelligence of looking at your best sellers and making intentional purchase decisions that drive the inventory on-hand,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buying patterns have changed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schumacher pointed out that over the past several years, the flow through the warehouse has been hard to predict because retailers went from feast to famine in inventory levels. Now that there is more sluggish movement through that warehouse, it\u2019s a good time to re-evaluate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see some manufacturers \u2013 like Surya in Atlanta with a really big warehouse \u2013 offer direct shipment,\u201d Lindler said, adding, \u201cAnd so we\u2019re seeing some retailers play into this and ask whether this is okay. That provides a whole other customer experience conversation. How can I fulfill my customers\u2019 needs in a good way, but perhaps remove the burden of owning the inventory and the unnecessary handling of the inventory? Because the more we touch it, the more times we can break it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tariffs have also caused retailers and manufacturers to rethink where they are sourcing from, which adds another level of complexity, Schumacher observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just talking to a retailer that, as we\u2019re moving into the summer season, has a variety of patio products like grills and such. In anticipation of all of the tariffs, several of our customers\u2019 buyers bought significantly more than they would normally,\u201d Lindler said. \u201cSo we\u2019ve seen a flood of seasonal merchandise now and hopefully retailers can turn it all because they\u2019re going to be holding it for more than a normal period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another concern for retailers in the age of tariffs is to consider changing their suppliers to ones that source from countries with less tariffs and ones with significant distribution in the U.S. \u201cWhen you do that, there will be changes in lead times,\u201d Schumacher cautioned. \u201cIt\u2019s not just changing your vendors, but factoring in what that does to your timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where to go for advice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which tools does Lindler suggest for retailers who would like assistance with the evaluation process and inventory management?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUse AI and ask ChatGPT or Co-pilot or another program questions for your specific situation, such as, \u2018I\u2019m a three-store retailer with this XYZ assortment of product, what should I be doing?\u2019 It\u2019s amazing what you will get in response to that, but it really depends on the size of your business and the specific problem that you have,\u201d Lindler noted. \u201cWe all have technology that\u2019s right underneath our noses and available on our laptops today that we\u2019re not fully utilizing. We\u2019re creatures of habit and we all use Excel or Outlook in a little bit different way [from one another],\u201d he added. \u201cI have a friend that I\u2019ve made through a CEO network and he spends one hour every Saturday studying AI. He\u2019s one of the most knowledgeable people I know, and he\u2019s made that intentional effort to say AI is here right now, and we have to figure out how to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To see the interview in its entirety, watch the 10-minute video here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Schumacher, a furniture industry insider and contributor to sister publication Home News Now, spoke with Billy Lindler, president & CEO of USSI \u2013 a firm that provides engineering consulting and warehouse solutions \u2013 to discuss ways that retailers can use current conditions to better their business. Tariffs are not the only topic of concern…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":127,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[306,305,304,244,307,308],"class_list":["post-1075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-billy-lindler","tag-home-news-now","tag-mark-schumacher","tag-tariff","tag-ussi","tag-warehouse"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Improve Your Business During the Tariff Crisis - Lighting News Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Billy Lindler, president & CEO of USSI, suggests ways that retailers can use the current market conditions to improve their business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lightingnewsnow.com\/?p=1075\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Improve Your Business During the Tariff Crisis - 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