"The Evolving State of the Retail Sector in 2023 & Into 2024", by Megan Flaherty and Ying Yang of Rosenthal

As we near the end of the year, Megan Flaherty and Ying Yang of Rosenthal & Rosenthal explain how new supplier relationships, improved inventory management and more diversified sales channels are transforming the retail landscape and providing opportunities for factors.

At the outset of 2023, businesses were optimistic that they had seen the worst of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the lingering challenges in its wake had finally subsided. There was a glimmer of hope that the economy would stabilize and that the retail sector would regain some of the traction it had lost. Unfortunately, even though supply chain disruptions have eased and logistics challenges have generally right sided, for the most part, companies are still being hindered by many of the same hurdles that they faced a year ago.

As we near the end of 2023, there is an underlying sense that we will not see the upward swing in the economy and the retail sector specifically that everyone hoped we would. In fact, 2024 is now shaping up to be an extension of the struggles business have continued to endure. Add to that inflation, high interest rates and growing geopolitical unrest and it’s no wonder that businesses and lenders alike are concerned about the future.