PPB July 2019

level of quality and service. The video was shared internally to guide associates in answering questions, and externally via email to all active distributor contacts, and it was posted on the company’s social media platforms—specifically Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. “To date, customer responses have been positive, affirming the importance of keeping them up to date,” says Gina Barreca, Vantage Apparel’s marketing director. On June 3, supplier Polyconcept North America in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, emailed a letter to customers explaining the actions the company needs to take as a result of the tariffs and outlining a new pricing schedule effective July 1. “Consistent with our strategy to date, we will continue to take a measured and moderate approach to passing along price increases,” the letter stated. Supplier Hit Promotional Products, Inc., in St. Petersburg, Florida, is also keeping customers informed. The company sent a letter to customers in early June to let them know it was working to keep the tariff’s impact on pricing to a minimum and it also shared a new price schedule. With no relief in sight from the possibility of more tariffs, the letter stated that, “The next couple of months bring a level of uncertainty as to what will transpire regarding what would ultimately be the balance of our product line that would be impacted by newly imposed increased tariffs. Please be prepared for this possibility, and additional price increases, accordingly.” Cohen forwards letters such as these to his internal team and sometimes they are included in communications to clients. He says this kind of supplier communication adds credibility to what his team is telling customers. “It’s good not just coming from us,” he says of the tariff updates. “It’s a good way to show your clients that you aren’t selling them; you are educating them on the impact of tariffs. And if you have items in a program that just went up [in price], well, you’d better tell your clients.” Jonathan Isaacson, president of supplier Gemline in Lawrence, Massachusetts, says his company is not getting inundated by questions from distributors at this point but the interest will likely pick up steam as more tariffs are applied. “We had seen this eventuality for quite a long time, so we had prepared as much as one can and are executing on the plan we put in place,” he says. That plan includes solid customer communications. “We’ve taken some time to make sure that we had a good assessment and we will be feeding back information to our internal team and our customers. This is a very fluid situation. There’s likely to be a number of twists and turns but business has to continue one way or another. Businesses can prepare and take action to mitigate some of the impact of this; there are some areas that will be very difficult. Communicating [that] will be very important.” Still, Isaacson is positive about the industry’s future. “We, as an industry, need to do this in a way that is not going to panic our end user. We can work our way through this without turning it into a giant demand detriment for promotional products. We have to find our way through this as an industry. It’s a difficult issue but there will be suppliers who can work through it and help mitigate some of the impact from the tariffs. There’s a lot we can do as an industry. There will be hard work involved but it’s not impossible.” He is expecting tariffs to be an issue for quite some time. “Part of that is the domestic politics on both sides, they are difficult issues. It’s an issue we’ll have to manage around for the foreseeable future. We will find ways to mitigate a reasonable portion of this issue—we have long understood that there is risk everywhere we do business, so we have contingency plans. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but we are better positioned than many to be able to react to the changes in the market that we are seeing today.” Tina Berres Filipski is editor of PPB . James Khattak, PPB ’s news editor, also contributed to this article. “We’ve taken some time tomake sure that we had a good assessment and we will be feeding back information to our internal teamand our customers. This is a very fluid situation.” Jonathan Isaacson , president of supplier Gemline in Lawrence, Massachusetts FEATURE | The Tariff Effect 60 | JULY 2019 |