Industry Resources

Learn about IHA’s cost-saving programs, including the International Housewares Shippers Association, designed to help members grow their business!

U.S. Retail Intelligence – July

June 28 – Off-Price Retailer Bealls Names Less Senior Marketing VP Less leads brand marketing, e-commerce and guest strategy including supervising Bealls loyalty programs. From: HomePage News June 28 – Jim Pattison Group Acquires Save Mart Modesto, Calif.-based Save Mart, a Kingswood Capital Management LP portfolio company, has almost 200 Save Mart, Lucky and FoodMaxx…

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

With so many new employee-relations regulations now being issued by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Labor Relations Board, and even the Federal Trade Commission (i.e., the non-competes ban), it would be easy to overlook important new regulations from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that could impact a…

Why Shipping Rates Are Soaring (and When Relief Might Come)

If you thought the days of skyrocketing ocean shipping rates were behind us, think again. Just when shippers hoped for a post-pandemic reprieve, a perfect storm of factors once again pushed prices upwards. Here's the lowdown on what's happening and what to expect: Capacity Crunch: Not What We Expected Before the Chinese New Year in 2024, the outlook seemed promising for…

U.S. Retail Intelligence – June

May 31 – Ultra Credits Target Partnership Royalties for Q1 Comp Sales Gain In a conference call, Ulta CEO Dave Kimball said royalty income from its partnership with Target contributed to the sales gain. From: HomePage News May 31 – Burlington Rides Early Spring Rebound to Q1 Sales, Earnings Gains Burlington Stores readily beat Wall Street first-quarter earnings estimates…

Shipping and Tariff Developments

On Feb. 26, 2024, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) published the final rule “Demurrage and Detention Billing Requirements.” Most of the rule went into effect on May 28 and the catalyst was the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) of 2022, which IHA lobbied for to authorize regulations making demurrage and detention billing timelier and more transparent. As explained in the…

Shippers Faced with High Freight Rates and Strong Demand

The Asia to U.S. market is experiencing a heavy surge in demand. The surge has caused freight rates to increase substantially over the last month. This has been costly for shippers that rely on the spot market to move their cargo. Shippers can expect spot rates to continually increase as long as demand outpaces available capacity. The strong market condition has caught many…

The CRA and New Regulations

Concerns among Democrats in Washington, D.C. that Republicans could win the White House in November has caused Biden Administration officials to accelerate their regulatory agenda. This is driven by their fears that a Republican White House and Congress will use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal many new regulations if they aren’t finalized by the spring or summer of…

2024-25 Ocean Contracts Finalized

Service contracts covering containers moving between Asia and the United States have been finalized. It was initially thought that the new service contract rates would remain unchanged or receive slight decreases in some cases. The steady increase in container volume from Asia during the first quarter of 2024 has allowed the carriers to secure modest price increases for the…

U.S. Retail Intelligence – May

April 30 – Nordstrom Adds Marketplace, Upgrades Digital Experience Marketplace customers will get personalized recommendations and thoughtful curation to make it easier to shop for their favorite brands and discover new ones, Nordstrom indicated. From: HomePage News April 30 – The Save Mart Companies to Roll Out In-Store Retail Media Network The chain will deploy tech…