It’s been a big week for corporate earnings, and tariffs continued to be a major theme that executives addressed.
Here’s a look at what the leaders of three major consumer-facing companies said in their earnings calls about the impact of tariffs on pricing and supply levels.
Newell Brands (NWL): We accelerated and then paused inventory orders from China
The maker of Rubbermaid, Sharpie, and Yankee Candle announced a 10% price increase, but said it has not priced for the 125% tariff rate on Chinese goods yet.
“We have probably three or four months of inventory on hand in the US that is not subject to the tariff,” Newell Brands CEO Chris Peterson said, noting that the company accelerated inventory orders into the US.
“We’ve also paused additional input or orders of inventory from China at this point. So we’re not paying the tariff at this point. At some point, we will begin to run out of inventory. Retailers will begin to run out of inventory, and we will turn back on reordering from China.”
eBay (EBAY): We are educating customers about tariff price hikes, delays
The CEO of eBay said that it has started messaging on its checkout pages about the duties that customers pay.
“Our SpeedPAK shipping program manages much of the complexity of international shipping for [cross-border trade] sellers,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone explained. “Items shipped through SpeedPAK also have tariff duties included in the total price at checkout, creating greater transparency for buyers.”
“For non-SpeedPAK purchases, we are managing expectations for buyers by educating them on the new costs, information requirements, and potential delays associated with international shipments. This includes messaging on the view item and checkout pages on eBay as well as localized information pages with up-to-date guidance amid rapidly changing policy.”
Kraft Heinz (KHC): We are working to minimize price hikes
“We are trying to do everything we possibly can to minimize the amount of price necessary,” Kraft Heinz CFO Andre Maciel said. “We have anticipated some purchases. We are looking at alternative sourcing. There is opportunity for, in some cases, reformulation, which takes a little bit longer. There are opportunities on the mix side. There are certain SKUs within the categories that are less impacted than others when it comes to tariff.”
“So we are taking all the possible levers,” Maciel said, “but pricing might be as a side.”
