Trump Tariffs: How to Build a Resilient Retail Brand
In every crisis, there’s a choice. You can fixate on the chaos. Or you can get to work.
So far, 2025 has been a year of extreme volatility driven by…
- The Trump Tariffs
- Inflationary pressures
- Recession worries
- Supply chain hell
But some brands have found ways to thrive in this economic turmoil.
Want to know the secrets to success? Read on to find out.
Create a Resilient Mind for Turbulent Times
Economic pressure forces you to focus on what’s important, make tough decisions, act quickly, and move forward with purpose.
Resiliency is the discipline to revolve under this pressure.
Before you build your strategy, you need to develop the mindset that can execute it.
Resiliency starts with these practices:
- Audit your vulnerabilities. Identify what’s not working—internally and externally. Facing reality builds awareness, which is the first step toward resilience.
- Make fast, clean decisions. Choose progress over perfection. Quick, intentional choices create momentum and prevent paralysis.
- Rally your team. Communicate clearly and often. A unified team becomes more adaptable under pressure.
- Clarify your purpose. Reconnect with why your brand exists. Purpose provides direction when everything else feels uncertain.
- Strengthen your mental routines. Start each day with intention. Consistent habits create mental stability in chaotic times.
- Practice disciplined optimism. Look for possibilities within constraints. This mindset builds endurance and helps you recover faster.
- Lead with conviction. Trust your values. Stand by your choices. Confident leadership inspires courage across your organization.
7 Strategies for Retail Success
You’ve built your mindset. You’ve steadied your team. Now it’s time to create the structure.
Below, you’ll find seven strategies that will help your retail brand prosper under pressure.
1 | Stay Culturally Relevant
Shoppers today move fast, and their interests shift even quicker.
Launch limited collections, test new ideas, and build stories around what your customers care about right now.
A resilient brand doesn’t just sell products.
They create a culture people trust, follow, and advocate.
2 | Optimize Your Customer Touchpoints
Whether it’s online or in-store, your customers expect a seamless experience.
Build an ecosystem that makes it easy for them to engage, shop, and share—everywhere.
Closing the distance builds trust. And trust builds resilience.
3 | Consider Absorbing Some of the Costs
Rising costs hurt everyone, but your customers shouldn’t feel it.
Before you decide to raise prices, consider absorbing some of the costs to protect customer loyalty.
Then, streamline your sourcing, renegotiate contracts, and tighten logistics to offset these costs.
Putting your customer first in hard times ensures they’ll stick with you in better ones.
Interested in learning how the packaging industry is being affected? Read our article: Trump Tariffs: Tracking the Impacts on the Packaging Industry
4 | Reimagine Your Retail Stores
Stores are no longer just points of sale. They are experiences.
Build spaces that reflect your brand’s values and deliver something digital never can—emotion, immersion, and human connection.
A resilient retail brand makes every square foot count.
5 | Lead with Purpose
Today’s shoppers care about what you stand for.
Make your sustainability, social values, and mission visible.
Not just in words, but in your actions, products, and retail packaging.
Purpose earns loyalty when everything else feels uncertain.
6 | Design with Discipline
Everything from your retail packaging to your product assortment should reflect intention.
Remove what doesn’t add value. Elevate what does.
Refinement is a form of resilience.
It tells your customer you’re paying attention.
7 | Operate with Precision
Resilient retail brands don’t waste time, money, or effort.
They systematize what works and cut what doesn’t.
Every decision should support your short-term and long-term goals.
PRO TIP: Optimized packaging drives down costs, speeds up fulfillment, and builds brand loyalty. Leverage our expertise to make it happen without the headache.
Real-World Results: How Top Brands Thrive Under Pressure
Mindset builds the foundation. Strategy builds the structure. But execution brings it all to life.
What does resilience look like in the real world?
Let’s look at two retail leaders who put the above strategies into practice.
Ulta Beauty: Glowing Through the Gloom
With over 1,300 U.S. stores, Ulta entered 2025 facing an uncertain economy and higher import costs on cosmetic ingredients and retail packaging.
Inflationary pressures made consumers more cautious, and supply chain disruptions threatened product availability.
Ulta stayed focused on engaging beauty enthusiasts even as the Trump Tariffs disrupted businesses and rattled shoppers.
So, how did they respond?
Ulta’s Strategies for Success
Product & Merchandising Strategy
Ulta rolled out buzzworthy new brands and welcomed celebrity lines, such as:
- Milk Makeup
- K-beauty skincare
- Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty
The rollout was a calculated move to fuel discovery, drive foot traffic, and boost average order value (AOV).
But more importantly, it allowed them to stay culturally relevant with their customers.
Marketing & Customer Engagement
Ulta invested heavily to optimize their customer touchpoints for younger demographics. This included…
- Influencer partnerships
- Viral beauty content
- Paid social campaigns
The goal was to meet young shoppers where they hang out online, create an emotional connection, and cultivate steady conversions.
Operational Efficiency
At the same time, Ulta improved processes behind the scenes to operate with precision.
For example, better inventory management reduced product losses and damages.
This helped offset rising store and supply chain costs.
Sustainability & Packaging Innovation
Ulta also embraced sustainable packaging in an effort to lead with purpose and design with discipline.
By the end of 2025, they pledge that 50% of all product packaging in stores will be recyclable, refillable, or made from recycled or bio-sourced materials.
Here’s how Ulta’s sustainable packaging strategy builds resiliency:
- Builds stronger brand loyalty. Aligns with consumer values, increasing customer retention during uncertain times.
- Reduces supply chain risk. Makes the brand less vulnerable to the Trump Tariffs and shortages with diversified material sourcing.
- Improves cost efficiency. Uses more innovative packaging designs to lower freight weight and damage-related costs.
- Prepares for future regulations. Positions the brand ahead of environmental compliance trends.
- Signals disciplined leadership. Shows Ulta can make bold, long-term commitments and deliver on them.
Ulta Beauty Q1 2025 Highlights
- Quarterly net sales: $2.85 billion (vs. $2.79 billion estimate)
- Comparable store sales: +2.9% YoY
- Average ticket growth: +2.3%
- Transaction volume: +0.6%
- Quarterly gross profit: $1.11 billion
- Inventory losses and damages reduced
Source: Reuters
Abercrombie & Fitch: Comeback in Full Swing
Through Q1 of 2025, Abercrombie’s management feared the Trump Tariffs could squeeze profit margins or force painful price hikes.
With roughly 80% of its products sourced from overseas, new 30% duties on goods from China (and 10% on other imports) threatened to add $50 million in extra costs, roughly 1% of sales.
Similar to Ulta, concerns about inflation and recession have led shoppers to be cautious with their money.
Abercrombie had to fight the perception that pricy clothes were a luxury and ensure its styles stayed relevant to avoid any slowdown.
Here’s how the brand responded.
Abercrombie’s Strategies for Success
Pricing & Financial Discipline
First, the company chose to absorb the costs and not pass them on to customers via higher prices.
This strategy helped prevent disruption to sales volume.
But even more crucial, it proved that the brand values their customers over short-term profitability.
Supply Chain & Operational Efficiency
CEO Fran Horowitz rallied her global sourcing team to unlock new supply chain efficiencies and operate with precision.
That led to a set of smart cost-saving actions, including:
- Renegotiated vendor contracts to secure better pricing
- Maintained product quality while reducing unit costs
- Streamlined operations to eliminate inefficiencies
- Cut excess spending across departments
- Minimized waste in both logistics and production systems
These moves helped the brand avoid major price hikes while keeping profits strong.
Retail Expansion & Store Innovation
In parallel, Abercrombie doubled down on growth initiatives.
It announced plans to open 100 new “physical experience” stores in 2025, which include 60 new storefronts and 40 remodels.
These reimagined retail stores are sleek, tech-enabled, and tailored to local tastes.
Digital & Omni-Channel Investment
Abercrombie upgraded their website to load faster, deliver smarter product recommendations, and match each customer’s journey with tailored search and navigation.
They also expanded omnichannel services like “buy online, pick-up-in-store (BOPIS)” and localized fulfillment.
These optimized customer touchpoints give Abercrombie a serious edge, such as:
- Fewer stockouts and overstocks. Better inventory tracking means the right products are available at the right time.
- Fewer returns. Faster, more accurate shipping leads to happier customers and less waste.
- More loyal customers. Flexible pickup and delivery options keep people coming back.
- Faster response to demand. Local warehouses help the brand adjust quickly when sales spike.
- Lower delivery costs and emissions. Shorter routes save money and reduce environmental impact.
Product Strategy & Merchandising
Through all this, the brand treats product development and merchandising as core levers of resilience.
Hollister prioritized laid-back, casual wear that resonates with Gen Z by focusing on:
- Inclusive fits
- Social-media-driven trends
- Seasonal capsule drops
These moves helped the brand stay culturally relevant and build loyalty in a price-sensitive but trend-aware demographic.
Its teen-first strategy paid off, driving a 22% YoY sales increase in Q1, its strongest ever on record.
Meanwhile, Abercrombie shifted toward versatile essentials that reflected the changing workplace and lifestyle trends, which include:
- Tailored trousers
- Minimalist dresses
- Neutral tones
Abercrombie Q1 2025 Highlights
- Absorbed ~$50 million in costs from the Trump Tariffs without raising consumer prices
- Plans to open 100 new “physical experience” stores in 2025
- Q1 net sales totaled $1.10 billion, up 8% YoY
- Net sales in the Americas grew 7%
- Hollister net sales increased 22% (Best-ever Q1)
- Abercrombie brand net sales declined 4% YoY
Sources: Benzinga, GlobeNewswire
Key Takeaways for Retail Brands
- Lead while others wait. When the market wobbled, strong brands didn’t flinch. They made bold moves while others paused, and that confidence set them apart.
- Optimism is a growth strategy. The most resilient brands focused on growing. Hope was their fuel for forward motion.
- Tell a story worth believing in. Loyalty isn’t bought. It’s earned by brands that listen, connect, and show customers they understand what really matters.
- Resilience is a daily practice. Tough times demand consistency. The brands that thrive stay disciplined in operations, relentless in improvement, and open to reinvention.
- Conditions don’t dictate outcomes. The market doesn’t have to be perfect for growth. A sharp strategy and a strong mindset create momentum, no matter the environment.
- Actions speak louder than ads. What customers remember isn’t what you say—it’s what you do. From price stability to sustainability, every action builds trust.
Move when others freeze. In moments of hesitation, speed becomes a superpower. The brands that kept moving didn’t just stay relevant—they pulled ahead.
Build Resilience Through Smarter Packaging
Resilient brands see their retail packaging as a strategic tool for control, efficiency, and connection.
In a high-pressure economy, your packaging plays a bigger role than ever.
It affects margins, movement, and the moment your customer first meets your brand.
At Creative Retail Packaging, we help you make it a competitive edge.
Here’s how:
- Cut costs without cutting quality. Lower your exposure to the Trump Tariffs and protect your margins with smarter sourcing.
- Stand out on the shelf. Capture attention and turn every unboxing into a brand moment your customers remember.
- Go green without slowing down. Meet sustainability goals while saving on freight and reducing waste.
- Streamline your supply chain. Ship smarter, reduce product damage, and get to market faster with an optimized packaging program.
- Get support when it counts. Stay agile during disruptions with a packaging partner that adapts quickly and keeps you moving.
Turn uncertainty into momentum. Rise above the competition with packaging that performs.
