In the high-stakes tariff environment of 2025, the difference between thriving and surviving often hinges on having proactive partnerships rather than reactive ones. As market conditions evolve and complexity increases, exceptional agency partners aren’t waiting for client inquiries – they’re positioning brands to navigate challenges before they arrive.
With retailers adjusting buying patterns and consumers becoming increasingly price-sensitive, it’s time to assess: is your retail agency providing reactive updates, or delivering proactive solutions?
Effective strategic agencies should be addressing these five critical questions before you have to ask:
1. How are you helping us plan for tariff-related cost increases?
Effective tariff navigation requires strategic insight, not just awareness. Brands should be mapping their product portfolios by country of origin, understanding where finished goods, raw materials, and packaging face exposure. A forward-thinking broker helps guide this process and digs deeper – comparing your vulnerability to competitors, modeling various tariff scenarios, and highlighting where you might have advantages to leverage.
At Harvest Group, we’re prompting clients with the right questions to assess their exposure and helping clients develop customized mitigation strategies.
2. What are you hearing from merchants about pricing sensitivity?
Your broker should be your eyes and ears on the ground, tapping into retailer intelligence you can’t access on your own. Each retailer is responding differently to tariff pressures – some accepting necessary increases while others hold firm on pricing. A valuable broker understands these nuances across different retail partners and can guide your approach accordingly.
Harvest Group maintains deep relationships with merchants and retailers across the entire store ecosystem, and our teams advocate for brands by engaging with merchant or sourcing teams early, recognizing that Owned Brand and National Brand departments often address challenges differently. Our diversified perspective allows us to position tariff-related discussions strategically and think long-term about category dynamics. Even when tariffs don’t directly impact your specific product line, we understand how ripple effects influence the broader retail environment.
3. How can we preserve shelf presence as retailers cut direct imports?
As retailers reassess their Chinese imports and inventory strategies, shelf space is becoming increasingly vulnerable. Your broker should be doing more than just alerting you to these changes—they should be helping you identify proactive strategies to maintain or even expand your presence.
At Harvest Group, we analyze cross-retailer sourcing patterns, advocate for your brand’s strengths in merchant conversations, and develop contingency plans that not only protect your existing shelf space but also help you expand when supply gaps create new opportunities.
4. Are you proactively modeling margin impacts or recommending adjustments?
Your agency partner shouldn’t be waiting for you to ask about financial impacts—they should be scenario planning around retail price changes and potential volume impacts, analyzing your price elasticity compared to category averages, and recommending where to strategically absorb costs versus pass them through.
Our team is working hard to provide Harvest Group clients with tactical considerations balancing short-term margin protection with long-term competitive positioning, advising brands on cost absorption and how to document cost drivers for merchant negotiations.
5. How are you helping us maintain velocity in a cautious demand environment?
With consumer sentiment at its lowest level since November 2022 and 80% of shoppers already changing spending habits, protecting velocity requires sophisticated planning. Your retail agency should be monitoring these trends and connecting the dots between tariff impacts, consumer behavior changes, and specific strategies to protect your market position.
Harvest Group is tracking consumer behavior shifts in real-time as financial pressures mount on households nationwide. We’re helping clients re-evaluate trade and marketing spend effectiveness, study recessionary category dynamics, and develop contingency plans that maintain velocity through strategic adjustments.
The Road Ahead
At Harvest Group, we’re not just observing market shifts—we’re proactively partnering with clients to navigate them successfully. Our comprehensive tariff updates and retail intelligence inform strategic recommendations tailored to each brand’s unique situation.
Our Market Intelligence Lead, Jackie Lewis, delivers regular analyses to clients, while our dedicated account managers work directly with individual brands to implement customized solutions. We maintain an intentionally low client-to-resource ratio, ensuring each brand receives the focused attention and strategic guidance needed in this challenging environment.
We remain committed to being our clients’ one source of truth, keeping them informed and equipped with tailored strategies as policies shift and market conditions evolve. For ongoing updates, visit our dedicated tariff landing page, curated by Jackie and updated regularly with the latest developments and Harvest Group insights.
Is your brand feeling the pressure from the current tariff landscape? Don’t wait until tariffs impact your bottom line. Let’s develop a customized strategy to address your brand’s unique challenges and opportunities.
