No batteries? Thinner packaging? US companies are looking for means to compensate for prices

New York (AP) – Gadgets sold without batteries. Toys sold in slipped boxes or without packaging at all. More household items that buyers need to meet.

These are some of the ways in which consumer products are re-leaving their goods to reduce costs and avoid increasing prices As President Donald Trump take them New import taxes on the main trading partners as well as certain materials used by American manufacturers.

The economic environment in which the president imposed, threatened and sometimes postponed repeated tariff cycles is more precarious than during his first mandate. American consumers are Feel exploited After several years of inflation. Companies say prices Add to their expenses And eat in their profits, but they are wary of losing sales if they try to transmit all the increase in customers.

Instead, some companies explore cost reduction options, both that consumers would probably notice in time – remember “Shrinkflation?” – and those who exist too far in the supply chain so that they can see it. The changes can help minimize price increases but will not be enough in all cases to compensate them completely.

These are some of the strategies that retailers and marks have in mind:

A fold in the supply chain:

After putting an additional tariff at 20% on all goods from China, as well as a 25% rate on imported steel, aluminum and automobilesTrump said he would announce the targets of “Reciprocal prices” which reflects the taxes that all other nations apply to certain American exports.

He maintains that prices will stimulate national manufacturing, among other objectives.

Also on the horizon: prices twice behind most goods from Canada and Mexico, and its functions on copper, lumberjack and pharmaceutical drugs.

Kimberly Kirkendall, president of the international supply chain consulting company Resource Development, told customers – American manufacturers of shelves, home products and food products – which taking into account all the uncertainty, this is not the time for long -term movements such as the search for factories outside of China.

She encouraged them to focus on the short term, in particular the need to examine the product ranges from all angles for possible savings.

“You have to collaborate and work with your suppliers in this situation to be able to reduce costs,” said Kirkendall.

Supply concerns are not just concern for large companies that rely on Chinese manufacturers. Sasha Igglehart, founder of a small online clothing company called Story Shirt, has a collection of shirts for recycled men that sell about $ 235. She said that she generally gets her vintage buttons from an Austrian supplier and knows that Trump has spoken of taxing the goods of the European Union.

“I will continue to look for local sellers and collectors here in the United States as supported,” said Igglehart, whose company is based in Connecticut.

Rework a product

For many companies, assess the components or details they can withdraw from their products or replace with less expensive things is the essential trip to absorb the potential financial blow of prices.

The toy company based in Los Angeles, Abacus Brands Inc., which designs scientific kits and other educational toys, has most of its products made in China. Using slightly thinner paper in an 80 -page project book provided with two of its kits, the company plans to avoid a retail price of $ 10, said President Steve Rad.

“Three or 4 hundred here,” said Rad. “Seven or 6 hundred there. Two more cents there. All of a sudden, you invented the difference. “

Aurora World Inc., known for her stuffed animals and toy vehicles, plans to use fewer paint colors as a means of countering prices, according to Gabe Higa, director general of the Toy division of California Company. All Aurora’s world toys come from factories in China.

“It is something that makes it a little simpler so that there is less manual labor or less material cost,” said Higa. “(IT) does not have much incremental value, so it’s easy to take away.”

The company may have to increase prices until the new prices are in force, he said.

Economic packaging:

Refine or reduce product packaging is another area where importers can reduce and benefit from the perhaps attractive advantage eco-consciousness customers.

The CEO of Basic Fun Jay Foreman, whose company markets classic toys like Tonka Trucks, Lincoln Logs and Care Bears, said that it presents retailers with three different packaging options and asking them to decide which they prefer for trucks and certain other products that will be in stores next spring.

The first is the current packaging, which consists of a box with a large open window which allows customers to see what is. The second option: no box, just a tray attached to the bottom of the toys to keep them in place on the shelves. The third: not wrapped but fixed with a simple paper price which includes information on the brand.

The second level packaging would reduce the cost per article from the $ 1.25 toy company, and the package -free version would cause $ 1.75 savings, said Foreman. The two would decrease the attraction of the products and would not be close to the cancellation of the price on the goods made in China, said Foreman.

He said he would make price decisions later this week after Trump provided details on his planned reciprocal rates.

To further reduce its production costs, Abacus Brands plans to go from cardboard plastic for package inserts that keep the toy parts in place. The cardboard trays cost 7 cents per unit, against 30 cents for the plastic version, according to RAD.

The change requires finding a new factory to make the inserts, a decision that did not make a financial meaning before, he said. The various changes related to the prices should be effective for fall and holiday deliveries to the stores, said RAD.

“The compromises we do are things that don’t matter for the consumer,” he said.

Forget the extras

Buyers will probably have to assemble more of their products at home, as companies seek to reduce shipping costs, according to Kirkendall in international development development.

One of its customers makes self-arrosage planters made in China. The product is overhauled so that it can be shipped as separate nesting components instead of being fully assembled.

Companies also reassess the parts of their essential or additional products. Chris Bajda, director of the Groomsday online wedding gift retailer, said accessories like batteries and decorative gift boxes can be found in this last category.

“We now carefully assess what is really necessary and avoid including articles that do not serve as a functional objective for the customer,” said Bajda.

The return of the reduction?

The reduction in the size or weight of products without lower prices has proliferated as a commercial practice from 2021 to 2024 while companies have attacked the costs of ingredients, packaging, labor and transport.

Edgar Dworsky, a consumer defender and former deputy prosecutor general of Massachusetts, suspects that manufacturers of consumer goods will again adopt the reduction to hide the costs given the explosion of new prices. The additional Canadian soft import tax, for example, could appear in hygienic paper rolls, he said.

“The narrowing has been a little silent” in recent months, said Dworksy. “But I would expect to see both price increases and a narrowing of products.”