Modern Retail x Attest Research: More than half of shoppers say tariffs are harmful, but many aren’t changing their purchasing patterns

And indeed, many shoppers say they are familiar with President Trump’s tariff policy and the potential negative repercussions — but they aren’t making huge changes to their purchasing patterns. A recent Modern Retail+ survey coducted in partnership with Attest, a leading New York-based consumer research platform, sheds light on how consumers are feeling about tariffs. 

Roughly 1,000 consumers were surveyed on May 28, right before the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump overstepped his authority when issuing most of his tariffs. 

Just over 40% of respondents said that they were “very familiar” with the new tariffs President Trump introduced on April 2, while just over 36% said they were “somewhat” familiar.” More than half of respondents, meanwhile, said that “tariffs are harmful because they raise prices for consumers.”

Still, the volatile tariff policy isn’t putting much of a dent in how people view their personal finances. More than half of respondents said they still expect their personal financial situation to improve by “a little” or “a lot” over the next six months. 

What’s more, even though a majority of respondents say they believe tariffs are harmful, a significant portion of them aren’t making changes to when they buy things. About 50% of respondents said they expect the products they buy regularly to be impacted by tariffs “a bit.”

When asked if potential tariffs on imported goods have influenced the timing of their purchases, just over 40% of respondents reported making no notable changes. Though, to be sure, that still left a significant percentage of respondents who said they were either delaying purchases due to higher prices or had made purchases earlier to avoid expected price increases. 

Still, if tariffs remain in place, that could change things. When asked, “If tariffs remain in place, will you purchase less in any of the following categories?” electronics was the most popular category for people to cut back on, followed by clothing. But this generally tracks with how people have cut back their spending in the past in response to inflation: When Attest and Modern Retail surveyed 1,000 consumers earlier this year about how inflation was impacting their spending, 57% said inflation had caused them to cut back their spending on clothing, while 45% saud they had cut back spending on electronics. 

It’s important to note that, so far, many price increases have been minimal and drawn-out – E.l.f Cosmetics, for example, said that it would raise prices by $1 by August 1. According to Momentum Commerce, the average selling price of some of the historical top-selling products on Amazon has ticked up 2.7% year-over-year as of May 15.

Right now, while consumers say they are worried about tariffs, they don’t appear to be sweating it that much — but that could change if prices increase further.