Beyond price tags: margins & market strategy in a tariff era

The industry is once again facing major disruption, this time driven by a wave of new tariffs on imports from key manufacturing countries. These changes are causing significant shifts across the wholesale and retail landscape, creating uncertainty in pricing, sourcing, and distribution.

At a time when agility is more important than ever and the traditional playbook is being rewritten, many organizations are asking the same question: How do we adapt quickly and continue moving forward with confidence?

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to a challenge this complex, we’ve created this guide to help you navigate the uncertainty and get more value from your tech stack. Our goal is to provide clarity, actionable steps, and tools that empower your team to stay resilient and responsive in the face of change.

A quick guide to the tariff landscape

Current happenings	What it means	Who it affects most	Why it matters
Rising U.S. tariffs on Apparel & Goods	Tariffs up to 125% on goods from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and others	Brands sourcing from Asia or selling to U.S. retailers	Increases landed costs by 15–45% or more, pressuring wholesale margins
Costs shifting to brands	Many suppliers and retailers are passing tariffs down the chain	Mid-size and small brands with less negotiation power	Harder to maintain pricing structure or profitability without visibility and platform support
Buyers expecting transparency	Retailers want clarity on price hikes and margin justification	Retailers want clarity on price hikes and margin justification	Blanket price increases without explanation are receiving pushback
Inventory risks from delays & duties	Delays due to customs changes, freight congestion, or regulatory confusion	Brands importing in-season or operating JIT models	Misalignment with buying cycles: cancellations, overstock/stock-outs
Brands rethinking global strategy	Tariffs push companies to diversify sourcing and grow non-U.S. business	U.S.-based brands or exporters to U.S. market	Opens opportunities in APAC, EU, and LatAM if your infrastructure supports it
Sustainable fashion under threat	Higher costs disproportionately impact sustainable materials and ethical supply	Purpose-driven or B Corp–style fashion brands	May force tradeoffs in quality, values, or margins unless tools support resilience

Helping brands navigate this moment

We’ve been here before. When the pandemic hit in 2020, brands faced factory closures, shipping gridlock, and pricing chaos. Many weathered the storm by focusing on what mattered most, rather than trying to do more.

At NuORDER, we saw brands succeed by investing in clarity, communication, and data. That same mindset applies now. Similar to COVID, it’s not just about charging more or charging less—it’s about staying profitable when your costs can no longer be predicted. This moment isn’t just a challenge but an invitation to rethink how your business operates, and how technology can be used to create leverage, not overwhelm.

There will still be consumer demand amidst the tariff chaos. It's important to have inventory management tools in place to aggregate as much demand as possible—and then to prioritize allocation according to what suits your business best.

Buyers will not be receiving every shipment on time as consistency will vary from supplier to supplier. This means last-minute, open-to-buy orders will take center stage. Your ability to sell what you have in real time and online will be more important than ever to capture those in-season dollars.

With delivery dates and pricing in flux, it’s also essential to have a tool that allows you to pivot quickly and share those changes with your team and with retailers. For example, delivery dates will likely be more volatile but product will still be available and retailers will still have a need for that product. If you can see when your deliveries will arrive—in real time—you’ll have a major competitive advantage.

Finally, as tariffs fluctuate (increasing and decreasing), you’ll need to reflect changes online and in real time versus via out-of-date linesheets and disconnected tools. This opens the door for you to maximize margins and eliminate duplicative processes.

Tariff response checklist for brands

1. Pricing & cost strategy

Recalculate landed costs to identify SKUs most impacted by tariffs

Implement strategic repricing—avoid across-the-board increases

Prepare retail-facing comms that clearly explain pricing adjustments

Build in flexible pricing tiers or promotional pricing to retain key partners

Evaluate currency exposure if sourcing globally (consider hedging strategies)

Surface real-time pricing instead of static catalogs or price sheets

2. Supply chain & vendor diversification

Identify and map sourcing risk by geography

Explore alternate sourcing regions or backup suppliers

Review import/export compliance documentation and new requirements

Analyze feasibility of keeping goods overseas for non-U.S. distribution

Consider shifting warehousing to free trade zones or low-tariff hubs

3. Inventory & demand planning

Review sell-through data and identify your top-performing vs. slow-moving SKUs

Reduce exposure to low-margin or tariff-heavy items

Surface real-time inventory and future delivery date availability

Forecast demand using historical order volume and buyer behavior

Highlight on-hand Available to Sell (ATS) inventory to retailers (especially pre-tariff stock)

Lean into pre-order or make-to-order models to limit overproduction

Reassess MOQ (minimum order quantities) with key accounts

4. Communication & retail partnerships

Be proactive and transparent with retailers about tariff implications

Offer data-backed justifications for pricing shifts

Update linesheets and catalogs to reflect changes in sourcing or pricing

Align on co-op marketing or shared cost strategies with top partners

Prepare a FAQ or talking points doc for your sales team and showrooms

5. Financial strategy & terms

Reevaluate payment terms to keep retail partners comfortable

Assess cash flow impacts of higher inventory or production costs

Look into trade credit insurance or financing tools to reduce risk

Create contingency models for different tariff escalation scenarios

6. Brand positioning & messaging

Double down on your brand story, values, and product quality

Make your sourcing, sustainability, or craftsmanship part of your differentiation

Localize messaging for different global markets (e.g., price sensitivity, regulatory expectations) in 14 languages — and offer more than 100 local currencies

Ensure your website and B2B materials emphasize value — not just price

Consider region-specific collections, bundles, or exclusives for global growth

7. Tech stack & operational readiness

Audit your tech stack for real-time pricing, inventory, and order visibility

Ensure your platforms can support localized catalogs, currencies, and fulfillment.

Improve data flow across systems: ERP⇆OMS⇄ Sales⇄ Finance.

Explore tools that automate customs classification or tariff estimation

Empower regional reps, agencies, and distributors with differentiated sales strategies

Enable centralized dashboards for leadership to monitor cost and risk trends

In moments like these, there’s a difference between reactive versus proactive, and using your existing tools to stay responsive is key. NuORDER was built with this type of volatility in mind.

Below, you’ll find a simple chart outlining the areas where NuORDER is especially equipped to provide support during uncertain times.

How NuORDER helps you stay competitive amid tariff pressures

Real-time pricing adjustments
What it means	Repricing everything can backfire. Tariffs justify change—but transparency is key. Be specific, not broad.
How NuORDER supports you	Strategically adjust pricing by customer, product, or region. Layer in dynamic pricing only where needed. Use the surcharges feature to be transparent about increasing the price of goods to preserve your margins on big-ticket items or imported product affected by tariffs.
Explore tools	Actionable Insights Discounts & Surcharges

Live inventory & delivery availability
What it means	Reduce the back-and-forth and empower retailers to plan ahead. Prioritize allocation of supply based on informed demand.
How NuORDER supports you	Instead of sending linesheets manually, automatically sync live inventory and upcoming delivery availability. NuORDER's dynamic cart features also help buyers see future stock levels and manage backorders as they shop – minimizing cancellations.
Explore tools	Future Inventory

Custom banners
What it means	Remove the guesswork. Make it easy to spot unaffected product and pricing.
How NuORDER supports you	Use custom banners to filter products by category with your own text displayed over curated product images (i.e., “Tariff-Free”, “US Made”, et al.).
Explore tools	Product Banners

Agility & global expansion
What it means	Tariffs force brands to think about global strategy. Can you shift sourcing or distribute beyond the U.S. to stay flexible?
How NuORDER supports you	NuORDER helps you manage vendor-level data, expand into international markets, and keep goods overseas, if needed. Create customer groups to identify partners you’d like to sell to now vs. partners you’d like to omit from Campaigns for now in order to be sensitive in the current climate of tariffs.
Explore tools	Actionable Insights

Supply chain transparency
What it means	Price increases require clear communication. Retailers want honesty about cost impacts and sourcing.
How NuORDER supports you	Track and communicate vendor origins, materials, and tariff-related adjustments. Centralize all supply data.
Explore tools	Order Management

Demand & forecasting pre-orders
What it means	Protect your margins by aligning buys with real demand. Forecasting > guesswork.
How NuORDER supports you	NuORDER provides sell-through data and enables pre-order models to reduce overproduction and waste.
Explore tools	Order Management

Seamless, flexible payments
What it means	Tariff shifts may require adjusted payment terms or renegotiations with retailers.
How NuORDER supports you	Use Integrated Payments to offer terms, improve collections, and simplify B2B invoicing workflows.
Explore tools	Integrated Payments

Brand differentiation
What it means	Don’t just react—lead. Global consumers will reward brands that clearly express value, quality, and ethics.
How NuORDER supports you	Use NuORDER’s flexible catalog tools to tailor messaging, highlight product composition, and tell a global story.
Explore tools	Actionable Insights

Conclusion

Despite the complexity and constant changes surrounding tariffs and economic pressures, building resilience happens now, and the right partnerships are crucial.

This industry has proven its ability to adapt and emerge stronger from global crises, and these economic shifts will likely continue to reshape the landscape unpredictably.

NuORDER is committed to helping you not just react, but fundamentally rethink your operations to navigate uncertainty. This includes enabling smarter planning, global agility, and clear, data-backed decisions.

Our optimism stems from witnessing past successes. We believe that with the appropriate tools, people, and outlook, this industry will not only overcome these challenges but will find ways to advance and improve through their agility.

NuORDER is actively helping brands and retailers around the world navigate tariffs.

Our team can provide hands-on guidance for increasing transparency, clearing inventory, and protecting margins. Ask us about our special pricing to help companies adopt the technology they need to stay agile in these uncertain times.

Beyond price tags: margins & market strategy in a tariff era

Discover a better way to run your wholesale

A quick guide to the tariff landscape

Helping brands navigate this moment