SMBs raising prices from tariffs

Small and midsize businesses are no longer eating tariff costs: 82% now pass them on to customers, according to a Netstock report released April 22. (wwd.com) The survey, based on Netstock’s U.S. customer base, found more than half of respondents said tariff impacts are worse than 12 months ago, and 72% named cost-related challenges as their top problem. Among companies raising prices, 92% said they are doing it through direct price increases. (netstock.com) The same report found nearly 60% of small and medium businesses are now using two or more tariff-mitigation tactics at once, including supplier diversification, safety-stock changes, scenario planning and pricing moves. FreightWaves reported 97% are using at least one active mitigation strategy this year. (netstock.com) (finance.yahoo.com) That marks a sharp turn from last year. Netstock’s first tariff report, published in May 2025, found nearly half of surveyed businesses had never implemented a tariff strategy, and 44% were still absorbing tariff costs internally rather than charging customers more. (wwd.com) (netstock.com) The operational changes go beyond pricing. One in three businesses said tariffs directly caused them to change suppliers over the past year, and nearly half said they were dealing with tariff exposure across two or more sourcing regions at the same time. (wwd.com) (netstock.com) China remained the most affected sourcing market in the survey, cited by 74% of respondents. FreightWaves reported companies are increasingly adding suppliers in Europe, Southeast Asia and Mexico, even as Netstock’s Jefferson Barr said replacing China’s production capacity is difficult for smaller firms. (finance.yahoo.com) (wwd.com) Tariffs are also changing how far ahead companies plan. Nearly three-quarters of surveyed businesses said tariff uncertainty pushed them to extend inventory planning horizons, and Netstock said adoption of data and analytics tools has more than doubled over the past year. (finance.yahoo.com) (netstock.com) Those planning shifts can ripple into warehousing and freight. FreightWaves reported that businesses pulling inventory forward and spreading orders across more suppliers could fragment freight flows and alter traditional shipping lanes, while more data-heavy planning can feed into decisions about where to hold stock and how much space to lease. (finance.yahoo.com) There is one possible offset, but it is limited. U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened its CAPE refund portal on April 20 for duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, yet the Netstock findings suggest many smaller importers have already spent the past year rebuilding pricing and sourcing around higher costs. (cbp.gov) (wwd.com) For shoppers and business customers, the clearest result is the simplest one: tariff costs that many smaller companies once tried to hide are now showing up in prices, supplier lists and inventory plans. (wwd.com)