How are retail and CPG weathering the storm?

With all of the economic and geopolitical storms that are buffeting global business, you wouldn’t expect the U.S. retail and consumer packaged goods sectors to be unaffected. Yet their performance in the first quarter of 2026 wasn’t nearly as bad as they might have feared. For one thing, there wasn’t the traditional post-holiday dip in activity at the beginning of the year. And consumer sales seem to be holding their own. So why haven’t retail and CPG been hit hard by inflation, driven by soaring energy costs, hot wars and tariffs? We get a perspective on this episode from Danny Lin, supply chain and procurement partner with the management consultancy Baringa. He discusses retail’s winners and losers to date, and whether the industry’s hot streak can continue as the year goes on, and inflation pressures intensify. Hosted by Bob Bowman, Editor-in-Chief of SupplyChainBrain.