Retail News & Trends · 16 September 2026
Retailers are shifting risk onto suppliers — quietly
Shorter order lead times, tighter receiving windows and penalties for partial deliveries have all become normal. None of them appear as a price change, but every one of them moves cost and risk onto the supplier.
The suppliers handling this well are the ones who priced it: they know what a two-hour receiving window costs them, and they negotiate frequency and drop size accordingly.
The ones handling it badly are absorbing it silently and wondering why margin is drifting.
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