As online retailers navigate the uncertainty surrounding trade policy, their executives give insights into the operational approaches they're taking to mitigate the effects of U.S.-imposed tariffs.

Online and in-store retailers alike are working to include fiscal guidance that, as Five Below CEO Winnie Park put it on a recent earnings call with investors, “reflects as best as we can currently estimate the recently announced tariffs and our mitigation strategies.”

President Donald Trump’s various tariffs on both specific countries and resources — such as steel and aluminum — are affecting retailers in various industries. Last week, executives at five major retailers shared how they’re factoring (or excluding) tariffs in their financial reporting. Executives at Academy Sports + Outdoors, Five Below, Nike, Shoe Carnival and Signet Jewelers each focused on the uncertainty they anticipate throughout the rest of 2025 as a result of tariffs.

“Having a diversified base is probably ultimately going to be the better answer, because you never know who is going to get hit with the next round of tariffs,” said Academy’s CEO Steve Lawrence. He added that the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum are “against any country.”

Online retailers’ tariffs commentary is sorted in alphabetical order. Parentheses indicate the retailer’s ranking in the  Top 2000 Database. The database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.

More online retailers brace for negative impacts from tariffs

1. Academy Sports + Outdoors (No. 146)

Academy Sports + Outdoors has been reducing its direct import exposure to products from China, trending toward 8%, compared to 10% in its previous fiscal quarter.

It continues to diversify its sourcing, and it has “virtual zero exposure” to imports from Canada and Mexico, chief financial officer Carl Ford said. The retailer has “mitigated the pressure from the announced tariffs,” he added, and will continue working to optimize prices.

Factoring in the impact of tariffs the U.S. placed on China in February and March, as well as a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, Academy Sports + Outdoors expects comparable sales in 2025 to range from negative 2% to 1% growth.

2. Five Below (No. 519)

Five Below anticipates seeing the impact of tariffs in its fiscal Q2, chief financial officer Kristy Chapman told investors on the retailer’s fiscal-year-end earnings call.

The retailer’s guidance only “includes the net impact of known tariffs,” she said.

To mitigate the impacts of tariffs, Five Below is making selective price adjustments for products $1 to $5, further diversifying its sourcing and increasing its focus on product newness, Chapman said.

“We’ve navigated tariffs before,” Chapman said. “However, the breadth and magnitude of the recently announced tariffs are significant given that approximately 60% of our total cost of goods are imported from China, either directly or through our domestic vendors. This situation is dynamic.”

3. Nike (No. 13)

Amid continuing sales declines, Nike chief financial officer Matthew Friend said the retailer is also navigating through external factors that create uncertainty in its fiscal guidance, including “geopolitical dynamics” and new tariffs. He told investors that Nike has included the estimated impact from newly implemented tariffs on imports from China and Mexico.

“Our fourth quarter guidance includes our best assessment of these factors based on the data we have available to us today,” Friend said. “We expect Q4 revenues to be down in the mid-teens range, albeit at the low end.”

4. Shoe Carnival (No. 574)

CEO Mark Worden said 2024 was a “volatile landscape” for the industry, but that Shoe Carnival strengthened its financial position nonetheless. Early 2025’s landscape “is shaping up like 2024,” he said. As such, Shoe Carnival expects mid- to high-single-digit declines from lower-income households.

“We also have the added unknown of tariffs yet to play out with the customer, vendors and industry pricing,” Worden said.

Shoe Carnival purchased additional inventory at the end of 2024, said chief financial officer Patrick Edwards. Doing so helps support stores and — to a lesser extent, he said — helps “hedge against potential supply chain disruption from port worker strikes and from tariffs.”

Chief merchandising officer Carl Scibetta said Shoe Carnival is getting different information from its individual vendors regarding pricing as a result of tariffs.

“In most cases, the vendors are able to assume some of those costs, negotiate with the factories,” Scibetta said. “We’re not seeing across-the-board price increases for fall based on tariffs but we might be seeing some price increases on individual items, newness, new items. But so far, things have held with the big core items.”

5. Signet Jewelers (No. 57)

Meanwhile, Signet Jewelers said its financial guidance for the fiscal year “excludes the potential for any significant impact resulting from new tariffs and regulations.”

It has a team that “actively manages tariffs” and will work closely with vendors to proceed, said Joan Hilson, chief operating and financial officer, in the retailer’s fiscal Q4 earnings call with investors.

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail NewsFollow us on LinkedInX (formerly Twitter)Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

Favorite