Survey Respondents Expect Tariffs to Affect Holiday Shopping
Companies that manufacture or sell common holiday gifts such as consumer electronics or food items should consider developing tariff-oriented strategies to help mitigate shopper concerns, says InfoScout.
SAN FRANCISCO—Amid the tariff discussion taking place around the globe, a survey of 1,000 Numerator’s InfoScout OmniPanel panelists was conducted to determine the knowledge and awareness of how tariffs will impact those respondents’ lives and wallets with regard to retail purchases. Some key takeaways can be gleaned from the survey conducted by Numerator, namely, one-third of Americans are not aware of tariffs or how tariffs would impact them.
“Awareness, education and information will be key for shoppers to determine if changes are a ‘brand’ thing, or a ‘retailer’ thing or a ‘government’ thing,” said Peter Greene, practice director for consumer durables at Numerator. “Of course, they can’t say, ‘this package is $1 more because of the tariffs,’ but the two-thirds of consumers in our study who are at least slightly aware of the tariffs are expecting some sort of change to take place this holiday season.”
Of that group, the jury is out as to what or who would be credited for the pricing uptick.
“Should this group notice a price increase on the categories they typically buy during the holidays, there’s a good chance that brands and retailers take as much of the blame as the tariffs,” Greene tells GlobeSt.com. “Most urgently, companies that manufacture or sell common holiday gifts like consumer electronics or food items for the family holidays should consider developing tariff-oriented strategies to help mitigate shopper concerns.”
According to the study, of the two-thirds of Americans who are at least slightly aware of the tariffs, that group is split on whether or not they are good for the country.
For the 50% of Americans aware of tariffs and who think tariffs are a good thing, they believe it will help American manufacturers and not have much effect on prices. For consumer-packaged goods products, survey respondents think it will only affect imported foods and fresh foods such as produce, dairy and meat. They don’t expect the tariffs to change their shopping habits. They intend to buy American-made products this holiday season, seeking out the “Made in the USA” stickers as they comb store and digital shelves.
The conclusion for this group: Tariffs are a good thing to protect America and American jobs. These consumers like American products and will actively seek them out, even if the prices might increase with the general notion that tariffs are not on products they buy often, and so it’s really for the greater good.
For the 50% of Americans aware of tariffs and who think tariffs are not a good thing, they believe it will raise prices, and hurt American manufacturing and global trade. For consumer-packaged goods products, survey respondents think tariffs will impact prices across the board, forcing them to look for ways to save money on packaged goods products to help minimize costs.
About half of this group is likely to shop less because of tariffs. They are going to look for products that meet their needs, regardless of where it is made.
The conclusion for this group: Tariffs are a bad thing for America. It’s not likely to protect America and American jobs. These consumers want to buy the products they need, regardless of where they are made, and indicated that they would go without before they would consider spending more for certain items.