Executives at Crown Automotive Group have controlled expenses since the Great Recession, but this year, they are getting more rigorous about it.
"It's crucial. If you do nothing, you'll go backwards because everything's going up in cost — insurance is going up, cost of wages is going up — you have to focus in and make reductions to make the improvements you want to see in net profit," said Jim Myers, COO of Crown in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Like Crown, many other retailers are looking to cut costs as profit margins continue to compress, expenses rise and a possible economic downturn looms.