Amazon, Target and Walmart Raised Prices in Response to Tariffs

Amazon has reportedly raised prices more than Target and Walmart this year, possibly due to the impact of tariffs on the platform’s marketplace sellers.

So far this year, Amazon has raised prices 12.8%, Target, 5.5%, and Walmart, 5.3%, CNBC reported Wednesday (Nov. 5), citing data from third-party research firm DataWeave.

The report noted that DataWeave’s analysis compares each retailer’s prices to its earlier prices, not to competitors, so a company could have a higher rate of increase from a lower initial price.

CNBC attributed the three companies’ price increases to the impact of new U.S. tariffs. However, it noted that Amazon’s steepest price increases came before the tariffs were imposed and may have been due to price normalization after offering discounts during the holiday shopping season.

Overall, the report suggested that Amazon’s price increases may have been higher because the platform’s marketplace sellers, which may be small businesses, are less equipped to deal with new tariffs.

While Target and Walmart have online marketplaces, Amazon earns a higher percentage of its revenue from third-party sales, per the report.

Guru Hariharan, founder and CEO of CommerceIQ, told CNBC that third-party sellers are “far more exposed to tariff-driven cost increases.”

“They don’t have the scale, inventory flexibility or private-label leverage that large retailers like Walmart or Target can use to offset costs,” Hariharan said in the report.

In response to the data from DataWeave, an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC that it’s possible to look at any retailer’s product assortment and find an equal number of prices that have gone up, gone down or stayed the same.

“The reality is that we offer competitive, low prices for Amazon customers and, based on our comprehensive analysis of millions of popular products customers are purchasing, we have not seen increases in price outside of normal fluctuations,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to meet or beat prices versus other retailers across the vast selection of products in our store, and that’s why customers trust Amazon as a destination for low prices and why we continue to earn more sales from customers.”

A Target spokesperson told CNBC that Target has said many times that it would raise prices “as a last resort” and cited as an example back-to-school items, which it priced the same this year as last year.

Walmart told CNBC: “We will do everything we can to keep prices as low as possible for as long as possible.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Profit Slips, Policy Shifts: Product Leaders Navigate the Crossfire” found that among mid-market companies, nine in 10 goods firms and more than seven in 10 services firms have raised prices in response to tariffs and other macroeconomic pressures.

Among companies of all sizes, however, some are absorbing most of the cost of tariffs. It was reported in July that companies were cautious about raising the prices to make up for the costs of tariffs because they could lose market share to competitors who don’t raise price and because the tariffs could be temporary.

It was reported in October that Goldman Sachs economists estimated that consumers will ultimately bear more than 50% of the total cost of U.S. tariffs. As of mid-year, consumers had shouldered only about 22% of the cost.