A Cost Saving Story at the Peak of the Tariff War

In August 2024, Mr. C (anonymous per client request), a Starwar superfan living near London, UK, decided to launch a business designing and selling costumes inspired by his favorite saga. He had an ambitious goal to launch his products both online and offline, and in UK and US simultaneously.

After several months of hard work, by end of March, Mr. C finally finished his launch preparation, and was about to arrange the first shipment to US, with a target grand opening of his new website on May 4th, the official Starwar Super Day. Then it came the Trump "Reciprocal Tariff" announcement. Everything imported into US would face a significant increase in import duty, especially products made in China. Mr. C was in a panic mode.

Right at that time, Threeflows stepped in to help. With their consultants specialized in global supply chain and process improvements, the team immediately offered their expertise and rolled up the sleeves to take the actions.

Step 1 - make sure the products are imported into the US in a complaint way for the grand opening on the target date.

Step 2 - take a hyper-care approach to identify all issues along the supply chain, while babysitting the launch lot from origin departure to destination first commercial order.

Step 3 - develop scenarios to address the potential long term tariff impact on Mr. C's business profitability; and identify process improvement opportunities to address short-term cost-out options.

Threeflows' team spent a good three months to work side by side with Mr. C's attorney, vendors, logistics service providers and other business partners to map out the flows. The results were unbelievable. Mr. C would enjoy an $300K annualized saving via the recommended import compliance program, and a 82% logistics savings via process and packaging improvement.

If you're interested in how we made it happen, contact us to find out more!

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