Executive Briefing | Q2 2025 | Retail & Supply Chain Strategy
At a closed-door roundtable hosted by a leading industry association, a top U.S. furniture manufacturer laid out a remarkably candid look at how they’re using AI, forecasting, and supply chain structure to stay financially stable in a year of ongoing container disruption and trade policy uncertainty.
This article presents the most relevant insights—directly applicable for importers, retailers, BCOs, and NVOCCs going through similar challenges.
“We’re not doing anything until June 1st… There’s just too much information still coming. We’re waiting before making any major changes.”
_____
🧠 Real AI Use Cases in Retail Operations
This manufacturer has already shifted core back-office functions to AI; not as a trend, but as a tool for accuracy, cost control, and speed.
- Accounts payable is now done through AI: “Not completely, there are still people that check it, because we don’t want to make any mistakes. But that’s all done through AI.”
- Forecasting is close to fully automated: They’re actively using AI to streamline planning cycles.
“Our world should be creative. Our people should be creative. And I think we’ll be able to free up their time.”
Rather than cutting jobs, their approach has been to move people off redundant tasks and into creative, value-driven roles.
✅ Insight: The company looked across departments and asked, “Where are my people doing things that AI could be doing?” That’s where they started.
📦 Inventory Buffering Is Strategic, Not Excess
One of their most important tactical shifts? Increasing buffer inventory to weather blank sailings and port slowdowns.
“We’ve added more inventory in the supply chain to make sure that we’re as stable as we can possibly be… Our safety stock levels are almost a month more than they were going into COVID.”
Rather than relying solely on retailers to carry the risk, the company holds its own additional stock in U.S. locations to protect throughput during supply chain volatility.
✅ Insight: Inventory is being treated as insurance against freight unpredictability, not just a cost center.
💰 Forecasting = Cash Flow Strategy
This manufacturer made it clear: forecasting isn’t just a supply chain function... it’s a financial one.
“Cash flow. I would focus on cash flow completely. That typically comes through inventory, through other things you can do.”
They’ve paused significant changes until mid-year because tariff structures and sourcing realities are still too fluid. Meanwhile, they’re auditing cost structures line by line.
“We believe we haven’t hit the price elasticity curve on most of our products. A $50 price change at retail isn’t killing the sale.”
✅ Insight: Liquidity and demand elasticity are being balanced together, using forecasting to avoid overreacting to partial information.
🚢 Tariffs Aren’t the Problem: Freight Flow Is
This company’s top concern isn’t tariff rates. It’s container flow and blank sailings.
“The biggest problem right now isn’t necessarily manufacturing globally. It’s containers… you’ve got to always have option one, option two, option three available.”
They’re actively tracking:
- Rebalancing of containers stuck in mainland China
- Missed legs in Asian shipping routes
- Blank sailings that leave goods stranded mid-route
“You can’t solve that ocean problem. So we just added more inventory… to be stable when blank sailings or container problems happen.”
✅ Insight: If you can’t predict container behavior, your buffer strategy and freight visibility need to do the heavy lifting.
🧮 Rethinking the Margin Equation
What’s working for this company? A disciplined operating model that ties together AI, inventory, and forecasting:
- “Break everything down… Look at all of our people; not to eliminate them, but to move them into more productive jobs.”
- “Use automation and technology to build factories in the U.S., otherwise you’re not going to compete.”
- “If you bring back the same factory from Vietnam to the U.S., it doesn’t work. You’re paying $2/hour there and $25/hour here.”
Their reshoring efforts are based not on nationalism, but on cost structure and automation: they’ve automated domestic production enough to compete globally in upholstery.
Final Words: Know What You Can Control
“Focus on what you can control. Stay within your circle of where you can actually influence. That’s what we’ve done.”
Their advice to retailers and suppliers alike: don’t panic, don’t overcorrect, and don’t delay transformation.
“If you don’t know who you are, the world will tell you… Be pure. Know what your intentions are. Know what you want to achieve.”
What to Ask Yourself Now
- Where could automation reduce low-value manual work?
- Are we using forecasting as a reactive report—or a planning tool?
- What happens to our business if containers get stuck for 4 weeks?
- Are we validating our freight costs—or accepting whatever shows up on the invoice?
- Do we have options if our primary shipping lane fails?
Stay Informed, Stay Competitive
Understanding how leading retailers prepare for volatility is just the beginning.
→ Explore our resources on freight cost control, AI-powered audits, and Tariffs tracking.
Stay up to date with the latest developments in trade policy, container disruptions, and supply chain forecasting strategies -- all curated for importers, BCOs, and logistics leaders navigating 2025.
______
