Tariffs Are the Great Equalizer. Autonomous Trucking Will Be the Brand Differentiator.

Gatik’s CEO and co-founder Gautam Narang explains how the nation’s largest retailers can avoid passing rising tariff costs to customers

Retailers are facing a new market moment that will test not just their margins, but their reputations. Tariffs expose which retailers can operate with discipline and which will pass the pain to shoppers. Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder at Gatik - the market leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics - works closely with retail giants like Walmart, Kroger, and Tyson, and can speak to the billions of dollars in hidden logistics costs that are about to shift from overlooked line items to the newest national supply chain spotlight.

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Everyone’s prices are going up. What sets brands apart is how they respond. Whether you’re a national grocery chain or a regional favorite, your customers won’t remember your explainer on tariffs. They’ll remember whether their eggs cost $12 a carton - or something more reasonable.

When consumers are budgeting every penny, their loyalty goes to the retailers who turn over every operational rock to absorb as much of the impact as possible. Competitive advantage now lies in how efficiently you run—not how loudly you market. Every cent saved in your supply chain is a cent that keeps your shoppers coming back.

“Tariffs are out of a retailer’s hands,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder, Gatik. “But how efficiently you operate isn’t. This is a moment to win trust by protecting your customers from rising prices - not just through promotions, but by eliminating the hidden costs you used to overlook. Our customers are consistently up against a need to improve supply chain efficiency, which is why they’ve turned to Gatik’s autonomous trucking solution to meet consumer needs.”

Brand Trust Starts Long Before The Checkout Line → It Starts With Your Supply Chain

Routing delays, labor shortages, lack of visibility, and underperforming vendors all quietly chip away at a retailer’s ability to keep prices stable and shelves stocked. Retailers have responded to intensifying consumer needs by creating an elastic, multi-channel experience: making their supply chains more flexible and moving warehouses and distribution centers much closer to their customers. Gone are the days of long, infrequent runs undertaken by class 8 big-rigs. The most effective supply chains are being served by medium-duty trucks, making multiple deliveries per day, to ensure faster store replenishment and satisfied customers. Crucially, the middle-mile - an historically overlooked area of the supply chain - has now become a high-stakes differentiator. This is where Gatik comes in.

“Gatik’s fleet of medium-duty autonomous trucks moves goods from micro-fulfilment centers and warehouses to pick-up points such as brick-and-mortar retail stores and local distribution centers,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder, Gatik. “We transport high-priority shipments across a network of known, repeatable routes to accelerate delivery frequency and enhance supply chain reliability — establishing a continuous, operational loop across our customers’ eCommerce logistics networks. It’s where the need is most acute, and it’s a solution we’re able to deliver today.”

Loyalty Is Earned Through Operational Discipline, Not Ads

Brand loyalty isn’t dead, but it’s no longer guaranteed. In an economy shaped by inflation, recession anxiety, and now tariffs, loyalty is contingent on value, and value is being redefined by behavior. Recent consumer data shows:

• 70% of U.S. shoppers have already changed the way they buy groceries due to rising prices
• 35% have switched retailers entirely in search of better affordability or consistency
• Private-label and discount chains are seeing double-digit growth in loyalty and basket share

These statistics are a warning sign. Grocers aren’t just competing for wallet share, they’re competing to reassure anxious consumers that their loyalty still makes sense. What’s changed is how brands earn that trust. It’s no longer about coupons or ad impressions. It’s about shielding customers from volatility by running smarter behind the scenes. This is where a robust, high-functioning, lower-cost supply chain becomes essential.

“In a margin-squeezed economy, loyalty isn’t earned with marketing,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder, Gatik. “It’s earned by protecting your customers - by running your business better than the next guy. At Gatik, we are actively future-proofing the supply chain for our customers and protecting them against unpredictable market factors and seemingly inevitable rising costs.”

Empty shelves due to delivery delays, sudden price hikes from unoptimized routing or fuel waste, and inconsistent stock of their favorite products. These aren’t just inconveniences. They erode consumer confidence and loyalty. And in a high-stakes, loyalty-fragile market, that loss is hard to earn back.

“Retailers have a chance to be the stabilizing force in the supply chain ecosystem,” said Gautam Narang, co-founder and CEO, Gatik. “And in this environment, stability is value. When your brand protects your suppliers, you’re ultimately protecting your customers. With our autonomous fleet that’s purpose built for B2B short-haul logistics, we’re able to take out a significant portion of the cost from traditional transportation networks and share those cost savings with our customer - which is vital for the low-margin retail business, and even more critical as inflation continues to drive transportation costs up.”

The short-haul segment between warehouses and stores is traditionally one of the least optimized and most expensive, accounting for up to 30–40% of total delivery costs. Even small improvements can create significant margin relief. The savings accumulated from autonomous operations across a 1,000-location network unlocks millions of dollars annually - and can protect shelf pricing, supplier partnerships, and loyalty rewards. Optimizing the middle mile may be the least visible move a retailer can make, but it’s the one that preserves loyalty at scale.

“In a world where you can’t negotiate lower tariffs or make better deals than your competitors,” Narang added, “the brands that win are the ones that run leaner, faster, and smarter. Every dime you save behind the scenes is a dime your customers don’t see added to the shelf.”

About Gatik

Gatik AI Inc., the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing B2B supply chains by enabling safe, consistent, high-frequency freight movement. Gatik’s AI-Driven Autonomy is transforming short-haul logistics for Fortune 500 retailers, and in 2021 the company launched the world’s first driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik’s medium-duty autonomous trucks are commercially deployed in multiple markets including Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, and Ontario. Gatik partners with industry leaders including Isuzu Motors, NVIDIA, Cummins, Ryder, and Goodyear. Founded in 2017 by veterans of the autonomous technology industry, the company has offices in Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix and Toronto.

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“In a margin-squeezed economy, loyalty isn’t earned with marketing,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder, Gatik. “It’s earned by protecting your customers."