Cason Crane, founder of specialty coffee company Explorer Cold Brew, recently purchased bulk inventory of coffee (from Ethiopia) and glass bottles (from China) in anticipation of tariff-related price increases. Explorer is a DTC brand founded in 2020, which sells a variety of caffeine levels online—including on Amazon and more recently at Whole Foods stores. “I’ve bought the maximum amount that I can feasibly store to get us through the next roughly six months,” Crane told Retail Brew. To do so, he had to use the limited funds he had to procure inventory. “Very few small businesses are sitting on a ton of cash right now. I’ve had to tie up my cash in inventory,” he said. Crane is also considering other contingency plans including sourcing coffee from different origins and developing alternative bottle supplier relationships in Mexico and India. Despite these precautions, Crane has had to contend with the possibility that tariffs could still harm his business. “This has the potential to cut our margin by two thirds, cut our gross profit margin 60%, which will be potentially unsustainable,” he said. Crane’s coffee brand joins a host of online businesses in the US that rely on overseas goods to sell via e-commerce channels including Amazon. Businesses like Crane’s, along with other smaller retailers, have been stressed about how these tariffs might affect their businesses. Keep reading here.—VC | 
