Customer with Shopping Cart in the Snack Aisle of a Walmart Store in Florida City, Florida, Aug. 5, 2025.
JC Milhet | AFP | Getty Images
As some of the biggest names in retail, Including Walmart and Home DepotDelivered Earnings Results in Recent Weeks, they updated wall street on how they and their shoppers are responsible to President Donald Trump’s Wave of tariff Increases.
The takeaway?
Tariff Costs Are Rising For Retailers, and they’ve had to get creative to avoid widespread price hikes.
Yet Consumer Spending Has Largely Stayed Stayed So Far – and the Pinch from Higher Duties Hasn’s Hasn’s as SEVERE SOME SOME SOME SOME COMPANES HAD FARED. Compared with their concerns in the spring, retail executives struck a measured tone and said they do’t!
Walmart Had Given One of the Strongest Warnings in May, AS CFO John David Rainey said he expected some prices to rain during the summer. In an interview with cnbc on Thursday, however, rainey said the nation’s biggest retailer have raised pris on some items, but in other parts of its stores have kept prices doven or expertly.
“There are certains where we have full absorbed the impact of higher tariff costs,” He said. “There are other areas where we have had the pass some of those costs along.
Scot ciccareli, a retail analyst for truce, said retailers are raising prices ” on dozens of countries.
“Most of the companies are kind of downplaying the impact of tariffs,” He said. “They’ve all talked about Substantiial Mitigation Eforts, Whether that is Diversified Sourcing, Whether that is Pushing Price Back to vendors.”
Here are three takeaways from a business couple of weeks of retail earnings.
Consumer Spending is SCEADY – With some exceptions
The draumbeat of steady, but selective, US consumer specinked this Quarter.
At Walmart, The Nation’s Largest Grocer by Revenue, SAles of Private-Label Items, Which Tend to Cost Less Than National Name Brands, Were Rainey Told CNBC. When customers trade down to that cheaper brands or smaller packs of items, it can signal us households feel strapped for cash.
As companies closely watch the consumer, rainey said walmart has seen shopper behavior that’s “very consistent.”
“They continue to be very resilient,” He said.
Walmart and Coach Parent Company Tapestry Both raised their sales outlooks for the full year. Both companies said they Saw healthy sales of discretionary items, such as clothing and handbags.
Sales of fashion items, include ladies’ apparel and shoes, accelerated at walmart in the Quarter, Rainy Said.
One of Coach’s Handbags, The Large KissLock Bag that costs $ 695, Sold Out Within Minutes of Launching in July, Tapestry Ceo Joanne Crevoisrat Said Last Week on the Call.
Yet some categories are still a tough sell. And Lower-Income Shoppers has been more sensitive to price changes.
Walmart Ceo Doug McMillon Said Thursday that the effect of tariffs on Spending “has been used mute.” Still, he added some shoppers have noticed and responded when prises creep up.
“As we replenish inventory at post-Tariff Price Levels, We’ve Continued to see our costs Increase Each Week, Why We Expect will continue into the third and furters,” “Not surprisingly, we see more adjustments in middle- and lower-ins’ households than we do with higher-insual households and discretionary categories where item prices have Gone up.”
Sales at home depot and Lowe’s Improved as the Quarter Went on, with the Strongest in July. Still, The Companies Weren’T Ready to Predict a Turnard for Home Improvement.
Lowe’s Ceo Marvin Ellion Attributed Some of the Recent Pickup in Demand to Better Weather and Said “It’s too early for us to call that a trend.” Higher Mortgage Rates and Borrowing Costs Have Dinged Homeowners’ Willingness to Tackle a Major Renovation or Move to a new home, which tends to spur home projects.
Other Brands Had More Dire Warnings About Spending. On the company’s earnings call, Crocs Ceo andrew Rees described the backdrop for the second half of the year as “concerning” and said it retill orders are weAq.
He described crocs’ customers as “super cautious.”
“They’re not purchase.
Customers Shop at a home depot store on August 19, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
Retailers have blunted the effects of tarifs … so far
Retailers have jumped into action to try to minimize cost increments from tarifs or avoid them altogeether.
Theose tactics have founded importing goods from a wider range of counts, getting items to the us early and stocking up on high-forquency purchases or fresh merchandise that consumersrs Buy, even at Higher Prisies, According to Interviews of Retail Executives and Earnings Calls.
Yet as Walmart Showed, Retailers Have Been Strategic About Price Increases – to not only Avoid Sporting Customers, But also to Dodge Potanical Scrutiny from the white House. Trump criticized walmart in may after the company warned it would have to raise prices.
SharkninjaWhich makes a wide range of items include blenders and hairstyling tools, have “Increased Sell Price On Products, But Done It Very, Very Carefully,” Ceo Mark Burocas Said In Insevible. And in some cases, it had to roll back part of that price incurses, He Said.
The company has also reduced discounting and raised the price of new merchandise when it debuts. For example, sharkninja initially planned to launch A new infrared skin care mask called cryoglow at $ 299, but instead decided to price it at $ 349, He said.
For Walmart, Target and Tapestry-Owned Coach, Importing Goods Early and Having Merchandise in Warehouses Before Tarifs Tarifs Took Effect Have Helpeed Them Curb The Hit from Heigher Rates.
Home Depot Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail Told CNBC Most of the Imported Products The Company Sold During the Quarter Landed Ahead of tariffs. And home depot is taking more steps to blunt the effects: more than half of what the company sells come from the us and it aims to important no more than 10% from any single county by the end of the year.
Yet the tariff bill is still adding up. Walmart’s McMillon said he expects to contineue thoughts to continue through the second half of the fiscal year. Other companies also provided specific estimates of how much the higher duties will cost them.
Even as tapestry posted sales growth, its shares tumbled last week after it said costs from higher duties would result $ 160 million this upcoming face and Ding Profits.
While Trump’s Tariff Policy appears more settled than in the spring, tariffs on some countries could still show.
Many of Trump’s Tariffs on Countries Began in Early August, but one of the key rates still hangs in the balance. He delayed Higher Tariffs on China for 90 Days Last Week. Thos Had Jumped as High as 145%, but are now at 30% as negotiations continue.
Target Acknowledged the Trade Uncertainty With Its Own Strategy. It gave a wider than usual range for its full-yar earnings per share outlook.
Inside a crocs store at queens center in new york.
Ryan Baker | CNBC
Strong Brands, New Moneymakers Matter More Than Ever
Strong Brand Loyalty and Lucrative New Businesses Have Made It Easier For Some Companies to Weather the Uncertainty.
As homeowners postpone larger projects, home depot and lowe’s have bulked up their business am professionals to attract steadier traffic and prepare for Whhen Demand PictS Up Again. Along with Reporting Earnings This Week, Lowe’s Announced It’s Buying Foundation Building Materials for $ 8.8.8.8.8 billion, marking its second acquisition of a home professional-professional-often in Recent Months.
Home Depot Announced Its Own Pro-Focused Deal Earlier this summer and made the largest acquisition in its history when it boght srs distribution last year.
Walmart also has benefited from newer revival streams, especially its advertising business and third-party marketplace. Global Advertising Grew 46% in the Most Recent Quarter, Including Ad-Enabled Smart tv Maker Vizio, which it acqured last year.
Its Marketplace Revenue Grew By 17% Year Over Year. That Business Includes Sellers who got charged a commission and often pay for services, such as ads on walmart’s site to promote their products or fullfillment services to have full Ship Orders to Customers.
Theose “more diversified set of proteits,” which have higher margins than selling a gallon of milk or a t-shirt, make walmart’s earnings steadier even as the company faces prescribes, rainey Said on the company’s earnings call.
“We are more than just a Standard Brick-Mortar Retail Business,” He said on the call.
For some brands, customer demand is high enough to help offset tarifs or allows to charge more.
Sandal Maker Birkenstock, For Instruction, “Saw No Pushback or Cancellations” After its tariff-Related July 1 price incurses, CEO Oliver reiut said on the company.
Coach, which has driven up its average price of items over CNBC.
On the flip side, tariff costs have hit some brands harder, especially if they do’t the new products customers seem to want or are skittish about what sales will see long later this year. HIGH-Performing Companies with Massive SCALE Such as Walmart often Have’s Leverage with vendors to pass on costs-but other businesses might not.
“If you’re a struggling brand, or you’re not really growing your business with a vendor, that vendor has less incentive to absorb incremental costs, whoser itfs or suply chain or suply chain Whatever, “Truist’s ciccarelli said.
Target said its Profit Margins in the Quarter was hurt by the costs of cancelling orders. Crocs also said it is reduction orders for the back half of the year.
Crocs Took Another Unusual Step: Rees Said the company is Taking back older inventory from retailers that sell its heydude shoe brand and swapping it out with fresher styles.
Ramesh Ghorai is the founder of www.livenewsblogger.com, a platform dedicated to delivering exclusive live news from across the globe and the local market. With a passion for covering diverse topics, he ensures readers stay updated with the latest and most reliable information. Over the past two years, Ramesh has also specialized in writing top software reviews, partnering with various software companies to provide in-depth insights and unbiased evaluations. His mission is to combine news reporting with valuable technology reviews, helping readers stay informed and make smarter choices.