Business

ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE is an unlikely source of hubbub. Bringing up CRM or ERP in conversation has usually been a reliable way to be left alone. But not these days, especially if you are chatting to a tech investor. Mention the acronyms—for customer-relationship management, which automates front-office tasks like dealing with clients, and enterprise resource planning, which does the same for back-office processes such as managing a firm’s finances or supply chains—and you will set pulses racing. More

The true “cost” of tariffs is difficult to determine, but models from consultancy group AlixPartners show common imported items could cost a lot more under President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Estimates from the firm show sweaters and footwear from China and Vietnam would cost significantly more under both current tariff policy and suspended “reciprocal” duties, if retailers pass the full cost onto consumers.
Many companies have said they plan to take other steps to offset the cost of tariffs before they hike prices.

What is the true cost of tariffs? 
It’s debatable — not only because of political biases, but also because it’s far from straightforward to calculate just how much of the levies consumers end up paying.

Even so, it’s possible to estimate how much the price of common items could increase under President Donald Trump’s various tariff proposals. For products like clothing imported from China and Vietnam, U.S. shoppers could have to pay a lot more.
To illustrate, retail consultancy group AlixPartners created pricing models exclusively for CNBC, looking at the price of a men’s sweater and men’s shoes made in both China and Vietnam before and after Trump’s April 2 “reciprocal” tariff announcement. The estimate assumes the retailer is maintaining its previous profitability levels, and using no cost mitigation strategies but rather passing along the tariffs to shoppers in the form of higher prices.
Under a current 30% tariff, the price of a men’s cotton sweater and a pair of men’s shoes made in China would both rise about 19%, according to AlixPartners. If Trump implemented the currently suspended 145% tariff on imports from China, the price of those same sweaters or shoes would spike roughly 90%.
Using a current 10% tariff on goods from Vietnam, the price of a sweater and shoes would both rise about 8%. But under the now paused 46% levy Trump previously proposed, the price of those items would rise roughly 35% each.

The models won’t capture exactly how tariffs will affect consumers. Still, they underscore that the levies, even at their current levels, could take a major toll on U.S. households.

Shoppers may not see price hikes that large for multiple reasons. Most large retailers are using various strategies to offset as much of the cost of the tariffs as possible: Target CEO Brian Cornell, for instance, told reporters raising prices would be the company’s last option. 
Final tariff rates could also end up lower than those used in the models.
Retailers usually don’t want to raise prices, because it dampens demand. But they also have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to remain profitable. At the tariff levels Trump announced on April 2 on about 60 U.S. trading partners, there’s not much room for the nation’s retailers to “eat” the levies — as Trump suggested — when operating profit is around 5%.

Men’s sweater made in China

Customers shop at a GAP Outlet store on May 29, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

AlixPartners calculated the estimated costs by adding up costs like production, duties, tariffs and logistics. Here’s how that breaks down.
Before April 2, a 100% cotton men’s sweater made in China could start at a cost of $6.80 to make. A 41.5% total tariff and duty rate was already in place for that sweater shipped to the U.S., adding $2.82. Then, there’s the cost of logistics and sourcing, which is another 95 cents.
Put together, the total “cost” of making that sweater was $10.57. At a typical gross margin target of 65%, the retail price before April 2 would have been $30. 
The graphic below illustrates how both the current tariffs and highest possible duties would affect those costs.

Using the same 65% margin, a consumer would pay a new price of $35.79 under current policy, a 19% increase. With the full 145% tariff in place, the price would balloon to $57.97, or a 93% spike from before April 2 for the same men’s sweater.

Men’s shoes made in Vietnam

A man shops for shoes at a Nike outlet store in Los Angeles, California on April 10, 2025. 
Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images

While current and proposed tariff levels on Vietnam are not as high as those on China, the duties could still be a major blow to retailers that source a lot of footwear from the country. Nike makes many of its products there and has already said it will raise prices — though it did not blame tariffs for the move.
AlixPartners’ model shows how tariffs could change the price of Vietnam-made shoes if a retailer passed along the full cost.
Before April 2, a pair of men’s shoes made in Vietnam could start at a cost of $29.50 to make. A 20% total duty was already in place for those shoes shipped to the U.S., adding $5.90 to the cost. Then, there’s the cost of logistics and sourcing, which is another $2.36.
Put together, the total “cost” of making that sweater $37.76 At a typical targeted gross margin of 60%, the retail price before liberation day would have been $95. 
Now, look what happens when current and proposed tariffs are factored in:

Using the same 60% margin, a shopper would pay $102.42 for the shoes under current policy, an 8% jump. With the highest proposed tariff in place, the new price would be $129.14, or an increase of 36% for the same pair of men’s shoes from before April 2.

How retailers are preventing a worst-case scenario

Regardless of where tariff rates end up, the largest companies aim to deploy some mitigation strategies to cushion the impact on consumer prices. 
Retailers may change manufacturing locations to countries with a lower tariff — though that could take years. It’s possible foreign manufacturers can pay some of the tariff cost. Companies may also change the type of products they carry or tweak features to lower the cost. In some cases, retailers may explore other tax efficiencies. 
Still, even Walmart — the world’s largest retailer by revenue — warned it may be impossible to absorb the entire tariff cost, even at current levels.
Retail lobby groups warn that even if the full dollar value of tariffs is not passed along in the prices consumers pay for goods, like any economic model, there is still a “cost.”
The Penn Wharton Budget Model illustrates how even when businesses and consumers share the tariff costs, job losses will likely occur as retailers try to cut costs and GDP declines.
Another complicating factor when it comes to deciphering the true cost of tariffs is that large retailers like Walmart, Lowe’s, Target and others have said they may use the “portfolio approach” to pricing. That means they could shift the cost of the tariff to an item where consumers are less likely to notice an increase. More

A nationwide coordinated crackdown on retail crime — what authorities are calling the first of its kind — led to hundreds of arrests in 28 states last week.
The blitz involved more than 100 jurisdictions and over 30 retailers including Home Depot, Macy’s, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walgreens, Kroger and Meijer.
Organized retail crime — a type of shoplifting where groups of thieves work together in targeted operations to turn stolen goods into cash — has grown in scale and scope in recent years.

A nationwide coordinated crackdown on retail crime — what authorities are calling the first of its kind — led to hundreds of arrests in 28 states last week.
The blitz, led by Illinois’ Cook County regional organized crime task force, involved more than 100 jurisdictions and over 30 retailers including Home Depot, Macy’s, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walgreens, Kroger and Meijer.

“When you give specific focus to a crime, it reverberates,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told CNBC. “When they see it is being prosecuted and taken seriously, it deters conduct. They don’t want to get caught.”
Organized retail crime — a type of shoplifting where groups of thieves work together in targeted operations to turn stolen goods into cash — has grown in scale and scope in recent years. CNBC previously reported on the extensive law enforcement efforts to take down retail crime organizations.
While aggregate numbers for retail theft are difficult to quantify, retailers reported 93% more shoplifting incidents on average in 2023 compared with 2019, according to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation. Those surveyed also reported a 90% increase in the associated dollar losses over that same time period.
Some critics point to a lack of enforcement and felony thresholds for allowing criminals to continue committing theft. It’s something Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has been focused on since taking office in December. 

California Highway Patrol arrests retail crime suspect in Long Beach, CA.
Courtesy: California Highway Patrol

On her first day in office, O’Neill Burke said prosecutors would pursue felony retail theft charges in accordance with state law, when the value of the goods exceeds $300 or when the suspect already has a felony shoplifting conviction.

Before her taking office, retail theft felonies were charged only if the value of the stolen goods was $1,000 or more or if the suspect had 10 or more prior convictions.
Since Dec. 1, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed charges in 1,450 felony retail theft cases, the office said.
The goals of the coordinated operation, O’Neill Burke told CNBC, is “to have one day where we focus and concentrate on [retail theft] and we share intelligence about it — about what we learned about the network, so that gives us more tools on how to take this network down.”
It was the coordination between law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys that got a number of the involved retailers to participate in the blitz.
“Collaboration is key to making a meaningful impact,” Ulta Beauty Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention Dan Petrousek told CNBC. “That’s why we were proud to participate in the National ORC Blitz alongside dedicated law enforcement and prosecutorial partners.”
Ulta Beauty had teams participating across nine states in last week’s operation, providing law enforcement with information on incidents of retail crime.
“Organized retail crime remains one of the most significant challenges in our industry,” said Marty Maloney, Walgreens director of media relations. “In this most recent operation we worked closely with law enforcement partners across nearly 20 cities and at over 40 locations to help curb this trend.” 
A representative for Home Depot told CNBC that while overall theft is down, investigated incidents of organized retail crime are still up double digits year over year.
Now that the operation has concluded, the group is pulling together each jurisdictions’ observations and sharing data to continue to help crack down on retail theft.
Other participating retailers reached for comment by CNBC, including Macy’s, T.J. Maxx and Target, said they’re committed to partnering with law enforcement and pushing for stronger laws to combat retail crime. More

Steph Curry is the CEO of Thirty Ink, a house-of-brands conglomerate that owns multiple businesses.
Thirty Ink generated $173.5 million in 2024 revenue and $144 million in EBITDA, largely driven by a partnership with Under Armour’s Curry Brand.
Curry’s Unanimous Media is set to release its first feature film, “GOAT,” next year.

Steph Curry’s Gentleman’s Cut bourbon.
Courtesy: Gentleman’s Cut

Steph Curry is one of the greatest basketball players ever, and judging by his company’s financials, he’s off to a pretty good start in the business world.
Curry is the CEO of Thirty Ink, a house-of-brands conglomerate that owns companies including Unanimous Media, Gentleman’s Cut bourbon and Underrated Golf and Basketball. CNBC Sport profiled the company in “Curry Inc.: The Business of Stephen Curry,” a production centered on Curry’s career and business ambitions that airs Wednesday on CNBC at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Thirty Ink generated $173.5 million in revenue in 2024, the company told CNBC Sport. The highest percentage of that revenue comes from its partnership with Under Armour, where Curry is president of Curry Brand, the company’s basketball and golf footwear and apparel brand. As part of a 2023 deal, the 11-time NBA All-Star was given 8.8 million Under Armour common shares, valued at $75 million at the time, in addition to other awards and incentives.

CNBC Sport’s “Curry Inc.: The Business of Stephen Curry” will premiere on CNBC on Wednesday, June 4, at 9 p.m. ET.

While Thirty Ink incurs annual expenses for delivering on Curry’s name, image and likeness, as well as related marketing around the brand, it doesn’t rack up traditional bottom-line operational costs to fuel those sales, helping contribute to a gaudy $144 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization last year, the company said.
Still, every business in Curry’s Thirty Ink portfolio is profitable, said Suresh Singh, the company’s secretary-chairman. Singh helped transform Curry’s business from SC30 to Thirty Ink, which has broadened its scope to different business lines such as bourbon, sports drinks and a branding consultancy and agency for other athletes.
“It’s completely unique,” said Singh. “One of the big things, I believe, is that there’s a lot of athlete- and celebrity-driven partnerships and businesses that aren’t necessarily focused on profit, aren’t necessarily focused on mission. We do both.”

Unanimous Media

The company’s mission is to “elevate the under.” That manifests itself differently depending on the business line. Unanimous Media attempts to hire diverse writers to create projects about family, faith and sports, said Erick Peyton, the multimedia company’s co-founder and co-CEO along with Curry.

“He knows every single project on our slate, which is probably around 40 right now,” Peyton said of Curry. “His vision is to inspire through media. It’s really a feeling when you watch our projects, hopefully you’re a little bit happier, you know, maybe it makes you feel a little bit better.”
Unanimous Media launched in 2018 and has been profitable every year, said Peyton. The company is four years into a first-look deal with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which owns the Peacock streaming service. Unanimous initially signed that deal for “high eight figures” over several years, and it has been renewed once, Peyton said.

More from CNBC Sport’s ‘Curry Inc.’

“It was a good deal, for sure,” said Peyton. “We’re really, really happy with Universal, and we’re hoping that they recoup their investment, and we’re hoping to kill it not only on Universal, but on the Peacock side.”
Unanimous is releasing its first feature-length movie, “GOAT,” about a billy goat that plays basketball, with Sony Pictures Animation next year.
“It’s set in an all-animal world,” Peyton said. “The goat plays basketball, but we don’t call it basketball there, we call it ‘roar ball.'”

“Goat” movie poster.
Courtesy: Sony Pictures

Curry’s DEI priority

Curry and John Schwartz, owner of the Amuse Bouche Winery in Napa Valley, partnered with Boone County Distilling Co. to develop Gentleman’s Cut. Thirty Ink was in talks last year to sell a minority stake in Gentleman’s Cut to a buyer that wanted to feature a Black-owned business, but the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion squashed the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.
That deal would have valued the business between $120 million and $200 million, the person said. A Thirty Ink spokesman declined to comment.
Curry isn’t backing off his own commitment to DEI, he told CNBC Sport. Curry’s Underrated Golf business is specifically designed to give Black and brown children a chance to participate in a sport that hasn’t historically catered to them.
“Obviously, from a national perspective, a lot of the narrative is trying to peel back programs and opportunities that are programs and resources that are allowing people to have just a fair shot and a fair chance,” Curry said in an interview. “Everything that we do and what I can control is about true equity. If you look at all of our businesses — our DEI writers for Unanimous, or even looking at something like the Underrated brand — it’s about creating true representation and opportunity from a grassroots level.”
“All that stuff is important to me. I want to actually walk the walk and live it. And hopefully that’s an example for how our country should.”
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. More

If college presidents were hoping Donald Trump would tire of lambasting America’s universities, recent tirades against international students have left them freshly agog. In May the administration said it would no longer let Harvard enroll foreigners, apparently as a punishment for upsetting it (a judge has put that order on hold). Of wider impact is the government’s decision to pause scheduling new visa interviews for foreign students, no matter where they aim to study. Beyond the damage this is doing to America’s reputation, and its prowess in research, the tumult has bean-counters across the country’s higher-education system wringing their hands. More

Dollar General raised its full-year forecast after beating first-quarter expectations for earnings and revenue.
CEO Todd Vasos said the company is working to reduce its exposure to China and minimize price increases for customers.
He added that the retailer is attracting more middle- and upper-income customers seeking value.

The Dollar General discount store logo is displayed on a truck in Austin, Texas, Aug. 30, 2024.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Shares of Dollar General jumped nearly 16% on Tuesday after the discounter raised its outlook, saying it drew more middle- and higher-income shoppers amid fears that higher tariffs would hurt consumer spending.
The Tennessee-based retailer beat quarterly expectations for revenue and earnings. The company said it now anticipates net sales will grow about 3.7% to 4.7%, compared to its previous expectation of about 3.4% to 4.4%. It expects diluted earnings per share to range from $5.20 to $5.80, compared to its prior outlook of approximately $5.10 to $5.80. Dollar General anticipates same-store sales will increase 1.5% to 2.5%, higher than its previous guidance of about 1.2% to 2.2%.

Here’s how the retailer did for the fiscal first quarter compared with Wall Street’s estimates, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.78 vs. $1.48 expected
Revenue: $10.44 billion vs. $10.31 expected

In the three-month period that ended May 2, Dollar General reported net income of $391.93 million, or $1.78 per share, compared with $363.32 million, or $1.65, in the year-ago quarter.
As of Tuesday’s close, shares of Dollar General have risen about 48% so far this year. That far exceeds the roughly 1% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period. Shares of the retailer closed at $112.57 on Tuesday, bringing Dollar General’s market value to $24.76 billion.
Dollar General’s first-quarter results — and its stock performance — stand out in a retail industry that is already taking a hit from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Companies including Best Buy, Macy’s and Abercrombie & Fitch have cut their profit outlooks due to tariffs.
On an earnings call Tuesday, Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said the company has worked to reduce its exposure to China — and limit price hikes for shoppers. He said the retailer has worked with vendors to cut costs, moved manufacturing to other countries and made changes to its products or swapped them out for other merchandise.

He said direct imports make up about a mid- to high single-digit percentage of its overall purchases and indirect imports are about double that.
“While the tariff landscape remains dynamic and uncertain, we expect tariffs to result in some price increases as a last resort, though, we intend to work to minimize them as much as possible,” he said.
CFO Kelly Dilts said on the company’s earnings call that full-year guidance assumes that Dollar General will be able to offset “a significant portion of the anticipated tariff impact on our gross margin, but also allows for some incremental pressure on consumer spending.”
Customer traffic dipped by 0.3% in the first quarter compared to the year-ago period, but shoppers spent more when they visited. The average transaction amount rose 2.7%, as sales in the food, seasonal, home and apparel categories all grew.
Vasos added tariffs have also increased U.S. consumers’ desire to find deep discounts. Vasos said the company’s first-quarter results reflect Dollar General’s gains from “customers across multiple income bands seeking value.”
He said store traffic and the company’s market research indicates that more middle- and higher-income customers have come to its stores more frequently and spent more when they visited.
“We are pleased to see this growth with a wide range of customers and are excited about our ongoing opportunity to grow [market] share with them,” he said.
Those gains have helped as Dollar General’s core customer “remains financially constrained,” Vasos said. According to a survey by the company, he said 25% of customers reported having less income than they did a year ago and almost 60% of core customers said “they felt the need to sacrifice on necessities in the coming year.”
Dollar General’s sales largely come from U.S. consumers who are on a tight budget. About 60% of the retailer’s sales come from households with an annual income of less than $30,000 per year, Vasos said last fall at a Goldman Sachs’ retail conference.
In addition to wooing value-conscious shoppers, Dollar General has tried to tackle company-specific problems that drew government scrutiny and tested customer loyalty. The discounter, which has more than 20,000 stores across the country, has paid steep fines to the Labor Department for workplace safety violations due to blocked fire exits and dangerous levels of clutter.
Vasos highlighted some of the ways that Dollar General has tried to improve the customer experience. Among them, it’s worked to reduce employee turnover, and it took about 1,000 individual items off its shelves so it can keep top-selling items in stock, he said.
Dollar General has launched its own home delivery service, which is now available at more than 3,000 stores. Its deliveries through DoorDash have grown, too, with sales up more than 50% year over year in the quarter.
Dollar General has also bulked up its merchandise categories outside of the food and snack aisles, adding more discretionary items like seasonal decor and home items. 
Vasos said sales in those categories have also gotten a boost from middle- and higher-income customers shopping its stores.
Its newer store chain, Popshelf, sells mostly discretionary items and caters to consumers with higher household incomes than Dollar General’s typical shoppers. Vasos did not share a specific metric for the chain, but said Popshelf’s same-store sales delivered strong growth in the quarter. The company recently changed the store layout to emphasize toys, beauty and party candy. More

McDonald’s snack wraps will return to U.S. restaurants on July 10.
The revival of the beloved menu item comes after McDonald’s saw same-store sales decline in the first quarter.
Popeyes also introduced a chicken wrap for a limited time.

McDonald’s Snack Wrap.
Courtesy: McDonald’s

McDonald’s snack wraps will return to U.S. restaurants next month as the fast-food giant looks to boost sales after a sluggish start to the year.
McDonald’s introduced snack wraps nearly two decades ago but discontinued the item in 2016 because it slowed its kitchens down too much. Some franchisees kept snack wraps around until 2020, when McDonald’s slashed its menu during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns to keep service running as smoothly as possible. Snack wraps disappeared along with salads and parfaits.

McDonald’s customers have been clamoring for the return of the snack wraps for years, starting petitions, asking about it in the drive-thru lanes and tweeting daily at McDonald’s official X account. Its return on July 10 comes as McDonald’s sales slow, hurt by cautious consumer spending. The burger chain reported that its U.S. same-store sales declined 3.6% in the first quarter.
This time, McDonald’s snack wraps will be made with one of the chain’s McCrispy Strips, which launched nationwide in May. The wraps will come in two flavors: spicy and ranch.
“The market continues to show the consumer is interested in this product. We want to make sure that we’re meeting our customers’ needs on that,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts, referring to the snack wrap, in early May.
The menu item is part of McDonald’s broader push beyond beef into chicken. The success of restaurants such as Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Raising Cane’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken has made chicken a fast-growing restaurant category in recent years.
The return of McDonald’s snack wraps could ignite the next stage in the so-called chicken wars. Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes on Monday announced its own take with its “generously sized Chicken Wraps,” wrapped in a tortilla inspired by its biscuits and available for a limited time.

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Ford on Tuesday reported a 16.3% year-over-year U.S. sales increase for May, as the automaker continues an employee pricing program amid rising tariff costs.
Sales for the Detroit automaker were led by a 17.2% increase in purchases of its vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines, as well as a roughly 29% jump in hybrid models.
Cox Automotive last week forecast the U.S. sales pace for May to have been slower than the “tariff-inspired buying surge” of the previous two months.

DETROIT — Ford Motor on Tuesday reported a 16.3% year-over-year U.S. sales increase for May, as the automaker continues an employee pricing program amid rising tariff costs and vehicle price increases.
Sales for the Detroit automaker were led by a 17.2% increase in purchases of its vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines, as well as a roughly 29% jump in hybrid models. Those gains offset a 25% drop in sales of all-electric vehicles — notably its electric F-150 — compared with May 2024.

May marked the third consecutive year-over-over, double-digit sales increase for the automaker, led the past two months by its employee pricing program that’s continuing through the Fourth of July weekend.
“Ford’s ‘From America, For America’ employee pricing program continues to connect with customers and drive strong sales results,” a Ford spokesman said in an emailed statement.
The automaker announced the pricing promotion as President Donald Trump’s 25% auto tariffs on imported vehicles took effect in early April.

Salesman Walter Silva (R) helps Alexis Lechanet shop for a Ford vehicle at Metro Ford on May 6, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

However, since then, Ford has announced some vehicle price increases, specifically on those imported from Mexico. A Ford spokesman told Reuters the price hikes, which affected vehicles built after May 2, were a combination of seasonal adjustments and tariff impacts.
Beginning in late March, consumers rushed to purchase new vehicles ahead of potential price increases due to tariffs, assisting automotive industry sales during the second quarter.

But Cox Automotive last week forecast the U.S. sales pace for May would be slower than the “tariff-inspired buying surge” of the prior two months.
Cox forecast the May seasonally adjusted annual rate, or sales pace, to be about 16 million, up slightly from a year earlier but a significant decline from March’s sales pace of 17.8 million and April’s 17.3 million.
Sales volume in May is expected to rise 3.2% from last year and 2.5% from last month, assisted by one additional selling day, according to Cox. More