Insights

As the dust settles on a tumultuous two year stretch in retail we can’t help but notice a rather large elephant in the room – we are at a low point in brand-retailer relationships. After […]

“As a strategic partner we’re asking you to invest in our business to the tune of 1700bps.” “Beginning the 1st of the month, costs on our products are increasing 27%.” Sound familiar? After all, its

If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.” – Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland. Retailers are pushing their merchants down a rabbit hole by requiring them to fully “validate”

It was the fourth call in a week on the same topic from a buyer at one of our retail clients: “I’ve literally received 40 cost increases from my suppliers in the last two weeks

As businessowners and entrepreneurs, we’ve all negotiated with someone—whether that be buyers, clients, or manufacturers. Just two months into COVID-19, and you may also be considering a renegotiation with your landlord of your office lease—if

Most negotiators agree that if the deal is important enough it should be negotiated in person. However, because of COVID-19 concerns this has changed overnight. For the time being, videoconferencing will have to bridge the divide. Although videoconferencing

In every negotiation, information is power. Information is leverage. Information allows us to create better, value-creating deals by helping us understand the underlying needs and interests of each side. This become much more difficult in

I was hopeful that the upcoming supplier pitch to add a new product to the line would meet our retail client’s expectations.   We had been working with the retailer to implement a new process for

Would you rather earn $50,000 or $100,000? It turns out the answer is very different depending on the salaries of others. A Harvard study found that over half its’ respondents would prefer to live in

As I was negotiating a deal for two parties that had the potential to create a real win-win for both, I found myself continuously irritated by the person on the other side of the table.