Retail Brew // Morning Brew // Update

May 01, 2025

Hello, it’s the 1st of May—a great time to contemplate that Mother’s Day gift you’ve been putting off. Out of ideas? Don’t sweat it. Kraft Mac & Cheese has debuted a limited-edition “Forever Macaroni Necklace” in collaboration with Ring Concierge. And no, it’s not made of pasta. In fact, the $25 piece of jewelry features a 14-karat gold noodle resting on a gold chain and comes in a tasteful blue box. That’s…one way to say “I love you, Mom.”

In today’s edition:

—Vidhi Choudhary, Natasha Piñon

SUPPLY CHAIN

Riding the ol’ tariff rollercoaster

An illustration shows a fence around the US and tariff percentages printed along its border.

Aprott/Getty Images

Cason Crane, founder of specialty coffee company Explorer Cold Brew, recently purchased bulk inventory of coffee (from Ethiopia) and glass bottles (from China) in anticipation of tariff-related price increases. Explorer is a DTC brand founded in 2020, which sells a variety of caffeine levels online—including on Amazon and more recently at Whole Foods stores.

“I’ve bought the maximum amount that I can feasibly store to get us through the next roughly six months,” Crane told Retail Brew. To do so, he had to use the limited funds he had to procure inventory. “Very few small businesses are sitting on a ton of cash right now. I’ve had to tie up my cash in inventory,” he said.

Crane is also considering other contingency plans including sourcing coffee from different origins and developing alternative bottle supplier relationships in Mexico and India. Despite these precautions, Crane has had to contend with the possibility that tariffs could still harm his business. “This has the potential to cut our margin by two thirds, cut our gross profit margin 60%, which will be potentially unsustainable,” he said.

Crane’s coffee brand joins a host of online businesses in the US that rely on overseas goods to sell via e-commerce channels including Amazon. Businesses like Crane’s, along with other smaller retailers, have been stressed about how these tariffs might affect their businesses.

Keep reading here.—VC

Presented By Bloomreach

Innovation nation

What’s that in the air? It’s not just pollen—agentic features are also in bloom.

Innovation Fest Agentic Bloom is less than a week away, and Bloomreach wants you to know: This is your last chance to snag a seat.

From product visions and roadmaps to huge updates in autonomous research and marketing that could redefine the way marketers and merchandisers collab with AI, Innovation Fest’s got it.

Bloomreach strives to be a leading agentic platform for e-commerce personalization, and they’re ready to share their automation tips and tricks.

After all, agents are much different from the AI we’ve seen in the past five years. How? Save your seat to find out.

E-COMMERCE

Dogs and infants

Dog owner feeding dog a bowl of PetPlate food

Courtesy of Pet Plate

Shoppers on Shopify stores stocked up on pet essentials and toddler items in April, potentially driven by fear of tariff-induced price hikes.

Items like store-bought dog food, wrap-style baby carriers, and toddler hip seats received massive bumps in orders during April, per the latest data from Shopify shared with Retail Brew.

Pawsome: Orders for commercial dog food rose by a crazy 1,121% in April. Pet owners also shelled out money to buy dog runs (up 121%), dog toys (up 114%), fish feeders (up 80%), pet chairs (up 27%), and dry fish food (up 18%). Pet products could see an estimated 7%–10% increase in prices due to overseas supply chains. Pet brands in the US import goods from Canada, China, Mexico, South Korea, and Japan.

Keep reading here.—VC

DELIVERY

UPS and downs

Anna Kim

UPS is laying off 20,000 employees as it continues cost-cutting efforts tied to a steep reduction in delivery volume from Amazon, its largest customer.

The shipping giant previously reached an “agreement with Amazon to reduce their volume in our network by more than 50% by June of 2026,” CEO Carol Tomé noted on the company’s Q1 earnings call on Tuesday. More specifically, UPS is rolling back its Amazon “fulfillment center outbound volume,” which “is not profitable for us, nor a healthy fit for our network.”

That pullback plan is running ahead of schedule, and now, the layoffs align with the plan to lessen UPS’s “dependency on labor.”

Keep reading here on CFO Brew.—NP

SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads.

Final countdown: Independent online vendors brace for impact as the de minimis loophole comes to an end. (the New York Times)

All over: Pakistani fashion retailers are expanding their overseas footprint with international stores in an effort to tap into global consumers. (Business of Fashion)

Add to cart: Why Walmart is bringing back the minimum basket fee for SNAP orders. (Reuters)

A new age(ntic): From product visions and roadmaps to huge updates in autonomous research and marketing, this is Bloomreach’s last call for Innovation Fest Agentic Bloom. Grab your seat before it’s gone.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

JOBS

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Senior Product Manager at a home decor brand (in person)
Ecommerce Business Analyst at Warners' Stellian Appliance Co. (in person)
Strategy Director - Shopper at Arc Worldwide (hybrid)

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