In recent conversations with several leading retail executives, all said they expected this year to have to “eat” higher import prices. The “gift” of inflation triggered by supply chain logjams and funded by the flood of federal stimulus funds early in the pandemic gave retailers the rationale for raising prices. Now, inflation is the ogre under the bridge and shoppers are not so quick to pull the trigger. This year, major national chains have been “rolling back” prices, mounting big noisy promotions, and waging a war of sorts that consumers have gotten used to and have learned how to exploit.
Read the article.
