A survey of U.S. e-commerce executives finds 76 percent said had increased the price of goods to mitigate the cost of the new and expected tariffs. On average, retailers are passing along 51 percent of the cost of Trump’s import taxes.
The survey of 500 e-commerce professionals conducted for Signifyd, which specializes in fraud protection, by Talker Research found retailers with online operations taking numerous other steps to offset the impact of tariffs, including layoffs, store closings, moving production and product sources, and rebalancing their inventory.
The survey also indicates that retailers with e-commerce operations have been scrambling since before the 2024 election to brace for higher import taxes.
“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.”
Some additional findings from the survey follow below.
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 percent.
