Modern Retail Podcast: Tariffs hit Mattel, M&A news from Skechers and DoorDash, and a look at Mother’s Day flower delivery with Bouqs

In M&A news, DoorDash announced it acquired reservation platform Seven Rooms and delivery service Deliveroo, for $1.2 billion and $3.86 billion, respectively. In other acquisition news, Skechers was taken private by 3G Capital in a $9.42 billion deal, which is said to be the biggest footwear buyout to date. 

In this episode, Daniels also speaks with John Tabis, co-founder and chairman of flower delivery company Bouqs, on how the floral industry is dealing with tariffs with Mother’s Day right around the corner. They get into the source of florals and how Bouqs uses its internal technology to navigate high-demand times. Tabis, who is also a venture partner with M13, also got into best practices for companies with global supply chains at a moment of uncertainty.

Here are some highlights from that conversation, lightly edited for clarity and lenght.

How tariffs are particularly impacting florists who import from South America
“Everyone, I think, in every industry, has had to adapt in real time. And I would say our CEO and the entire team have done an amazing job of managing through that process. We don’t import all of our flowers. We certainly have domestically grown flowers, but with certain types of flowers and in certain times of the year, South America and other foreign countries are where you have to go to source, especially for the highest quality, affordable blooms.”

Mother’s Day consumer sentiment
“We really tried our best this Mother’s Day to offer a wide variety of price points for everybody. And then we leaned heavily into our subscription product because it offers a price point that folks really can’t find, especially at Mother’s Day. We have two dozen roses, or the equivalent in the mid-$50 range, delivered on a subscription. That is a price point that is hard to find anytime of the year, let alone on a big holiday like Mother’s Day, where you’ll often see price points of $100, $150, $200 for a similar arrangement. And so, it’s really important to us to keep that price-value mix in place, and the flexibility around the subscription is one of the ways we make that purchase choice easier.”

How businesses can manage uncertainties around tariff policy with diverse supply chain
“The more that people are looking at vertically integrated models, technologically-enabled models and AI-enabled models around import distribution, the better off those businesses will be to deal with not just [tariffs], but also any sort of global shock. And if you think about it, Covid had massive supply chain issues just because of the interconnectedness of the world and how debilitating that was. Now we have this trade war-driven dynamic. It doesn’t seem like this is lessening, right? It feels like this is something that is future-proofing your business, unless you are solely in a locally produced product. For anyone with a global supply chain, whether it’s coming into the U.S. or out of the U.S. or between other countries, it’s going to be really smart to continue to invest in the flexibility, the nimbleness and the diversity of where those products are coming from.”