Tariffs Impact Prices, Not Shopper Behavior

Retailers Lead in Tariff ‌Confidence

PYMNTS Intelligence data, reflecting the views ‌of 60 firms across ‍industries including retail, shows 80% of companies are ​”very or extremely confident” thay can adapt to tariff-related supply-chain disruptions, ⁢while 20% are “somewhat confident.” Among goods-sector firms – which include many retailers – confidence is even higher: 85.2% are very or extremely confident and 14.8% are somewhat confident. Services follow at 82.6%, and ​tech at 60%.

Even companies expecting a⁤ strong tariff impact remain upbeat: 85.1% of “high-impact” firms describe themselves as ⁢very confident,and 80% of “medium-impact” firms echo that view. The outlier is the ⁢”low-impact” group, where 100% are only “somewhat confident.”

These results align with ⁣PYMNTS Intelligence’s September report, “Tariff Turbulence Splits the Middle Market as Confidence Rises”, ⁢which found that 29%⁢ of‌ middle-market firms have increased prices, 21% have renegotiated supplier terms, and every goods​ firm surveyed has already taken at least one mitigation step.

Moderate Price⁣ Increases Ahead

Confidence does not mean profits are untouched. PYMNTS data show 9 in 10⁣ goods firms and more than 7 in 10 services firms raised prices over the past year, yet‌ roughly three-quarters of goods ⁤firms still experienced margin compression.

the response heading into the holidays is therefore tactical. The end result may be modest, selective price adjustments instead of broad increases. The goal: preserve consumer volume while safeguarding as ⁢much margin as possible – where the‍ willingness to sacrifice a few basis points of profit still helps maintain traffic through ‍the crucial‍ December quarter.

Key Takeaways