Survey: Retailers raise prices and rebuild supply chains in the face of tariffs

/EIN News/ -- SAN JOSE, Calif., June 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the ultimate level of import taxes awaits various court rulings, retailers are raising prices in response to the Trump Administration’s gyrating tariffs, according to survey results commerce protection provider Signifyd reported today.

In fact, 76% of respondents said their businesses had increased the price of goods they sell to mitigate the cost of the new and expected tariffs, according to the poll of U.S. ecommerce professionals conducted for Signifyd by Talker Research. On average, the survey shows, retailers are passing along 51% of the cost of Trump’s import taxes.

Overall, the surveyed merchants, in big numbers, have made big moves in the face of tariffs — including layoffs, store closings, moving production and product sources and rebalancing their inventory.

“It isn’t surprising that retailers are taking dramatic action in the face of some pretty dramatic tariffs that have been implemented and proposed,” said Signifyd head of storytelling Mike Cassidy, who is overseeing the poll for Signifyd. “What surprised me was the big number of retailers — often in the 70-plus-percent range — that are significantly adjusting critical operations and strategies this early in the game.”

The survey also indicates that retailers with online businesses have been scrambling since before the 2024 election to brace for higher import taxes.

Signifyd Chief Customer Officer J. Bennett, who has been talking to retailers about their tariff strategies, is available to talk more about the survey results and their implications for the retail industry and the economy.

Some additional findings from the survey follow below. For more on the poll and the tariffs' effects on retail see Signifyd’s Merchant Tariff Tracker.

The Signifyd Merchant Tariff Survey polled 500 U.S. retail professionals representing merchants with online operations. The survey, conducted between May 27 and June 2, 2025, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.38%.

Key Survey Results Below are the percentages of U.S. ecommerce professionals who said that in the face of current or pending Trump Administration tariffs their brands took the designated action. (Talker Research surveyed 500 U.S. ecommerce professionals.)

Raised the retail price of goods they sell	76%
Closed physical stores or otherwise reduced their business's physical footprint	58%
Laid off employees	55%
Instituted a hiring freeze	63%
Moved production from one country to another	61%
Switched suppliers from higher tariff to lower tariff countries	71%
Accelerated imports from countries subject to tariffs	71%
Limited inventory/number of SKUs they sell that are subject to tariffs	71%
Limited countries they sell/ship to	70%
Substituted U.S.-sourced inventory for inventory subject to tariffs	72%
Reduced the number or size of discounts and promotions to lower costs	75%
Directly communicated to customers the cost of tariffs	73%
Added an explicit line item at checkout detailing the additional tariff costs involved in a purchase	67%
Increased the estimated delivery time to customers	76%

Contacts
Mike Cassidy
Signifyd head of PR & storytelling
mike.cassidy@signifyd.com