Roulston's Retail Consultant on Rising Raw-Material and Labor Costs at Specialty Retailers

Roulston Research's Retail Consultant John Kyees gives his take on how retailers have been dealing with higher raw-material and labor costs. Gap reported last week that raw-material costs are rising faster than expected and faster than they will be able to raise prices. This will reduce profit margins at the company for the year and it is feared that other specialty retailers will face similiar problems. John explains, "Actually I think cotton price increases have slowed a bit. Gap is in that tier of retailers that can't raise prices easily without incurring a competitive disadvantage. Those retailers who are highly differentiated will be able to add 5-10% to their retail prices and preserve their profitability. Gap sales basics for the most part which are identifiable and very price competitive. Gap is also probably heavily concentrated with China sourcing which means they're experiencing labor cost increases as well as cotton cost increases. Retailers such as Urban Outfitters have maintained a diverse sourcing structure with China only accounting for about 20-25% of their sourcing. This gives URBN leverage with the Chinese factories in that URBN can move production to a lower cost country in which they've already established a reliable factory base."


John Kyees retired from Urban Outfitters on June 30, 2010. He joined the company in November 2003 as the CFO and served in that capacity until February 2010. John is a 33-year veteran in the retail industry with CFO roles at several retailers.