Amazon customers are still shopping through tariffs — but getting cautious
As tariffs kick in, the majority of Amazon shoppers haven’t slowed down their spending — but they’re getting more concerned about cost, survey finds
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The majority of Amazon customers are still shopping on the e-commerce site, but their concerns around tariffs increasing costs are growing, study finds.
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Jefferies, an investment banking and capital markets firm, released a report on Tuesday from its equity research team that spoke to shoppers' concerns. Surveying 700 U.S. Amazon customers, it found that 62% spent around the same or more on purchases in the past three months while 31% say they’ve spent less. Out of those surveyed, 80% say they are concerned about prices rising from tariffs. Only 3% of those surveyed said they’ve stopped shopping on Amazon.
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But, if inflation were to get worse, 45% of customers said they would shop less altogether, including at other retail stores. Some are already switching to cheaper brands, while 21% of respondents said they would switch more of their shopping to Amazon over other brands if prices continue to increase.
Even with rising pessimism, 57% of customers surveyed still intended to keep their Amazon Prime memberships.
Shoppers' anxieties surrounding an increase in costs from tariffs aren’t unfounded. Although the U.S. reduced tariffs for Chinese goods (a major producer for Amazon-sold products) down to 30% from 145% in May, costs are still on the rise.
A recent analysis by DataWeave for Reuters found that prices for Chinese-made products sold on Amazon are rising faster than the rate of inflation. It found that costs started increasing at the beginning of May and that the median cost of those goods has gone up by 2.6% from January to mid-June.