Retail
Protect your buying margins. Source globally, sell confidently.
Jackson Swiss Partners helps retail businesses lock in supplier costs, execute multi-currency payments, and protect seasonal buying budgets — so currency movements never erode the margin between your buying price and your shelf price.
The FX Challenge in Retail
Currency risk sits inside your buying margin.
Retail gross margins are already under pressure from rising supplier costs, freight, and duty. Currency volatility adds another layer of unpredictability that directly erodes the margin between your landed cost and your retail price.
A 5% movement in GBP/EUR between placing a purchase order and paying a supplier invoice can destroy the entire profit on that buying round. For seasonal buyers, this exposure is concentrated into short windows — making timing everything.
- Sterling weakness increases the GBP cost of every EUR, USD and JPY supplier invoice
- Bank FX spreads of 2–3.5% add a hidden cost to every international supplier payment
- Unhedged buying budgets create margin unpredictability that is impossible to price into retail
How It Works
How JSP protects your buying margins
A three-step process from exposure mapping to payment execution — ensuring every buying round is protected before the season starts.
Map Your Buying Exposure
We begin by mapping your complete FX exposure profile across all supplier currencies. For most UK retailers, this means EUR from European suppliers, USD from American brands, and JPY or CNH from Asian manufacturing. We calculate the exact sterling value at risk across your seasonal buying budget and identify the currency pairs driving the most margin risk.
Lock in Your Buying Rate
Once your buying exposure is mapped, we place forward contracts to lock in the exchange rate across your supplier currencies for the duration of your buying cycle. When your purchase orders are confirmed, your rate is already fixed — meaning your landed cost in sterling is known regardless of where GBP moves between now and your supplier payment due date.
Execute Supplier Payments
When supplier invoices fall due, we execute payments at your locked rate — directly to your suppliers in their local currency. Same-day settlement in 30+ currencies, with full confirmation and reference tracking. Your finance team sees every payment from instruction to settlement, with the exact sterling cost confirmed at the time of hedging.
Key Capabilities
Built for how retail businesses buy and sell
Seasonal Buying Hedges
Lock in exchange rates across your full seasonal buying budget before the buying window opens. Forward contracts aligned to your buying calendar protect your entire season in a single programme.
Multi-Currency Supplier Payments
Execute payments to suppliers in EUR, USD, JPY, CNH and 30+ other currencies at institutional rates — with same-day settlement and full payment tracking from instruction to confirmation.
FX Policy for Retail Buyers
Establish a documented FX hedging policy tailored to your buying cycle, margin thresholds, and payment terms. Gives your finance team clear rules and your board confidence that currency risk is managed.
Marketplace Revenue Collections
Collect marketplace revenues from Amazon, ASOS and other platforms in USD, EUR and AUD using virtual IBANs — avoiding automatic platform conversions and keeping control of your conversion timing.
4–6%
Typical FX margin impact on unhedged import costs
12 months
Maximum forward contract horizon for buying budget certainty
30+
Supplier payment currencies supported
Seasonal Protection
Your buying season. Your rate.
Seasonal retail buyers face concentrated FX risk twice a year — at the Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter buying rounds. JSP structures forward contract programmes that align exactly to your buying calendar, giving you confirmed sterling costs before a single purchase order is placed.
- Hedge 70–100% of your seasonal buying budget 3–6 months in advance
- Flexible contract tenors from 1 month to 12 months to match your supplier payment terms
- Drawdown as purchase orders confirm — no need to hedge exact amounts upfront
FAQ
Retail FX Questions
Get Started
Ready to protect your buying margins?
Start with a free buying cycle FX review. We will map your seasonal sourcing exposure and recommend the right forward contract programme for your business.