Preparing for H2 2026: Why Your Negotiation Strategy Needs a Rewrite
As buying teams begin to look toward the Spring/Summer 2027 ranges, they are facing a volatile landscape. Raw material costs, labour rates, and shipping environments remain unpredictable.
In this inflationary environment, relying on the negotiation tactics of the last few years will fail. Simply demanding cost-price rollbacks from suppliers who are themselves facing margin devastation is not a strategy; it is a recipe for damaged relationships and quality degradation.
Protecting margin in H1 2027 requires advanced, fact-based negotiation skills and more sharply tuned vendor strategies. Teams need to understand "should-cost" modelling, open-book costing, and how to trade variables other than just price—such as lead times, payment terms, promotional support, or packaging specifications and cost—to secure value for both parties.
If your teams are going into these vendor meetings without advanced preparation and training, they will come out with margin-eroding compromises.
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Posted by Brian Hume
3rd June 2026
