The Register Rundown Video
Your periodical “ring up” (see what we did?) of headlines and KPIs relevant to anyone who makes, distributes or sells STUFF!
4 Positive
Recent headlines indicating a strong retail market
“Walgreens Sales Rise on U.S. Retail Pharmacy Segment Growth”WSJ (4/8) Both sector and company growth.
“Ikea secures former Homebase units for new small-format stores” Retail Gazette (4/1)Ikea is actively growing its footprint—a hopeful sign in a cautious retail environment.
“Pop Mart’s profit more than doubles on Labubu craze” “Downtown Billings experiences boom with 10 new businesses”Straits Times (3/26) KTVQ (3/24) Fun niche pockets of strength, expansion, resilience.
7 Negative
Recent headlines that may indicate retail weakness
“Stock markets slide as Trump’s new China tariffs go into effect” “US Fashion Brands Face an ‘Existential Threat’ as Tariff Reality Sets In” “Commerce Secretary Lutnick doesn’t back down in face of market sell-off: ‘The tariffs are coming’“ABC News (4/9) Vogue (4/7) CNBC (4/7) The elephant – well bear – in the room…consumers don’t buy much when lacking hope.
“Trump’s tariffs mean brands will lose customer loyalty—and winning it back is incredibly hard” Fortune (4/7) A brand-focused take on tariffs’ long-term cost & impact.
“Walmart Asks Brands to Boost Ad Spend by at Least 25% Despite Brands Reporting Sales Stagnation”Adweek (4/8) Subtitled: “One global brand is not renewing its annual agreement due to lackluster sales”act.
“Apparel brands grappling with ‘tariff hell,’ says Canadian industry group”CBC (4/8) Even though the tariffs don’t target Canadian goods, cross-border sellers face rising costs and limited U.S. market access.
“All of Retail Wants a Tariff Playbook. Walmart Could Deliver.”Barrons via MSN (4/8) Subtitled: “One global brand is not renewing its annual agreement due to lackluster sales”.
4 Neutral
Recent headlines that are pretty so-so for the market
“The Market Is in a New Mode: ‘Sell Everything American’” WSJ (4/9) “Investors shouldn’t be too alarmist…” Despite the title, an interesting take with spots of hope.
“Brazil retail sales rise 0.5% in February to hit record” Reuters (4/9) Hot headline, but “four months of near-zero changes” and “tight financial conditions”…still tepid news
“With the launch of GapStudio, Gap wants you to rethink everything you know about the brand” “Kate Spade New York x Target Looks to Bring Affordable Style and Joyful Living to Spring”Fast Company (4/1)WWD(4/2) Couple of launches, but not overly optimistic big moves like in up times
Key Metrics
U.S. Composite PMI: Deceptively brutal for retailers and product brands.
- Solid expansion, strongest growth in three months
- New business and employment posted modest gains
- However…Growth in services, not products, led the overall expansion.
- Growth driven by services, not goods, and manufacturing output declined
- Input and output prices surged, with input costs rising the most in nearly two years
- Business confidence dropped to its lowest since Sept 2024
Sentiment about Tariffs:What’s with the obsession over Canada? Tariffs cause consumer concern, but they’re disproportionately worried about little brother to the north.
- 76% of consumers are worried about prices, 81% about small business closures
- Concern is highest for Canada (66%), followed by Mexico (64%) and Europe (62%)
- Voters most strongly oppose tariffs on Canada (48% oppose, 39% support)
- However…Canada imports are a couple hundred billion $ smaller than EU.
- Canada isn’t even a top 3 trade partner, falling below China.
- TLDR consumers are still worried.
Conclusion: On the net, definitely “mixed” at best, but there are some little sparks of resilience
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Sources
- Positive
- https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/walgreens-sales-rise-on-u-s-retail-pharmacy-segment-growth-d40744ab
- https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2025/04/ikea-small-format-stores-2/
- https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/pop-mart-profit-more-than-doubles-on-labubu-craze
- https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/downtown-billings-experiences-boom-with-10-new-businesses
- Negative
- https://abcnews.go.com/Business/asian-markets-us-futures-slide-trumps-new-china/story?id=120626507
- https://www.vogue.com/article/us-fashion-brands-face-an-existential-threat-as-tariff-reality-sets-in
- https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/06/commerce-secretary-lutnick-tariffs-are-coming.html
- https://fortune.com/2025/04/07/trump-tariffs-brand-loyalty-marketing/
- https://www.adweek.com/media/walmart-asks-brands-to-boost-ad-spend-by-at-least-25-despite-sales-stagnation/
- https://ca.news.yahoo.com/apparel-brands-grappling-tariff-hell-080000110.html?guccounter=1
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/all-of-retail-wants-a-tariff-playbook-walmart-could-deliver/ar-AA1CxnCJ
- Neutral
- https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-market-is-in-a-new-mode-sell-everything-american-dda2ade4
- https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-retail-sales-rise-05-february-hit-record-2025-04-09/
- https://www.fastcompany.com/91308794/gapstudio-launches
- https://wwd.com/business-news/retail/kate-spade-new-york-target-collaboration-1237069522/
- KPIs:
- U.S. Census Bureau
- S&P Global
- https://nrf.com/blog/how-voters-really-feel-about-the-2025-tariffs
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States