For forward-looking distributors, tariffs are no longer a distant concern; they’re a daily reality. Over the past decade, distributors have weathered dramatic shifts in duty and import policies, and the pace of change shows no sign of slowing. Rather than trying to predict the next move in global trade, the smartest organizations are building resilience for any scenario. That’s where the Epicor “Five Ts” come in: Team, Timing, Tendering, Trajectories, and Technology. These strategies offer a practical framework to help distributors stay agile while protecting margins and ensuring supply continuity, no matter what the future holds.
Robust governance starts with a dedicated steering committee. Bring together procurement, finance, operations, and sales—ideally 5–7 core members—to meet regularly (weekly or even daily for maximum agility). This team reviews tariff developments, assesses cost and supply impacts, and agrees on rapid response actions. Centralizing insight and decision-making ensures that critical updates don’t get lost in silos, and that decisions (like adjusting order timing or pricing) happen before small changes become big problems.
A focused committee spots risks early, aligns stakeholders, and translates policy updates into procurement and pricing changes within a short timeframe. Define clear roles such as Tariff Monitor, Scenario Lead, Action Coordinator, and Dashboard Updater while establishing decision triggers to prompt reviews or escalate to senior leadership. Rotating roles quarterly diversifies perspectives and shares ownership.
Being flexible on when costs hit your books and where inventory resides are powerful hedges against tariff risk.
Update landed-cost calculations for deferred duty events and negotiate terms with suppliers, aligning duty payments with your sales cycle.
With sourcing costs up 30% year-over-year for many SMBs, procurement flexibility can give you a competitive edge. Weekly scenario planning is critical; these three tactics can help:
Run a spend analysis to identify SKUs with the highest duty impact, map alternative suppliers, update contracts with tariff-adjustment clauses, and create procurement dashboards to monitor supplier attributes.
Relying on a single forecast is risky in volatile environments. Instead, model plausible scenarios to understand how different tariff changes could impact your operations, suppliers, and customers. Prepare contingency plans for a range of outcomes, so you’re ready to act before competitors even spot a challenge.
Develop baseline assumptions for multiple scenarios, define triggers (e.g., “10% duty increase”), model impacts in your BI or financial planning tool, hold quarterly “what-if?” workshops, and assign scenario leads to monitor indicators.
Your technology providers should deliver features that support each of the Five Ts. The right capabilities make tariffs manageable, not a constant surprise.
Conduct a feature-gap analysis to inventory your current capabilities. Map features to the Five Ts, configure and validate high-priority modules, run pilots in low-risk use cases, and build dashboards to monitor usage and outcomes.
The Five Ts—Team, Timing, Tendering, Trajectories, and Technology—offer a practical, actionable framework for navigating tariff turbulence. By aligning a dedicated team, timing inventory and payments, building procurement flexibility, and stress-testing multiple scenarios, distributors can respond confidently to future uncertainty across the supply chain.. In a world where change is the only constant, resilience is your greatest asset.
To learn how Epicor can help your business thrive in a fast-changing world, visit www.epicor.com or contact distributionsexperts@epicor.com.
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