In 2025, tariffs led to price increases for some online retailers, as those selling toys, furniture, consumer electronics and more took to earnings calls to explain how they were working with partners on supply chains to manage new costs imposed on imported goods to the U.S.

Now, in 2026, merchants have adjusted. Costco, Wayfair and others have expressed cautious confidence in their strategies, downplaying the impact of tariffs on pricing and consumer activity. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed optimism in January, delivering its outlook for the year ahead.

“Remarkably, global growth for 2025 and 2026 is expected to be stronger than back in October 2024 before the tariff disruption started, as the global economy shakes off the immediate impact of tariff shock,” said Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, an economist and director in the research department at the IMF, speaking at a Jan. 19 press briefing.

Still, retailers have mixed outlooks as leaders frame projections and the U.S. Supreme Court weighs oral arguments that it heard in November 2025. The outcome of that case could interrupt tariffs that the federal government has already levied, though no decision was issued as of Feb. 12.

What is clear is that Best Buy, e.l.f. Beauty, Under Armour and other retailers that Digital Commerce 360 tracks care a great deal about U.S. tariffs on goods arriving from other countries. And their leaders have gone on record about what they expect to see.

How retailers are strategizing around tariffs

In consumer electronics, tariffs have raised many questions over the past year. As they did, Best Buy’s leadership team was asked during its November earnings call if tariffs had impacted pricing. Matthew Bilunas, senior executive vice president and chief financial and strategy officer at Best Buy, called its average selling prices at the enterprise level “essentially pretty flat year over year.” Nevertheless, he did characterize changes for some of its inventory.

“Any tariff increases we would have had were only on small portions of the assortment overall,” Bilunas noted. “The effective tariff rate is probably still in the mid-teens, if you will.”

Best Buy is No. 8 in the Top 2000. The Top 2000 Database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers.

Elsewhere, Mandy Fields, senior vice president and chief financial officer at e.l.f. Beauty, told investors on Feb. 4 that the company’s “Q3 gross margin of 71% was down approximately 30 basis points compared to prior year.”

“The year-over-year decrease was largely driven by tariffs, partially offset by pricing and mix,” she stated.

At the same time, she assessed that “the tariff rate is now at 45%,” which remained unchanged from November 2025. Importantly, that level is much lower than when it was “as high as 170% earlier in the fiscal year.” Currently, e.l.f. anticipates that if that rate remains stable, it will be able to benefit going into its next fiscal year.

“And if it remains at 45%, that becomes a little bit of a tailwind for us as we get into fiscal ’27 given that we retain those higher rates as we started the year,” she said.

E.l.f. Beauty is No. 350 in the Top 2000.

Pressure on margins and new opportunities

Like e.l.f. Beauty, the sports equipment and apparel brand Under Armour also blamed tariffs for shrinking margins when it reported fiscal third quarter earnings results on Feb. 6. The company saw its gross margin decline by 310 basis points to 44.4%, which it cited in its earnings release as being “primarily due to higher tariffs.”

“We now expect the full-year rate to decline by approximately 190 basis points compared with our prior outlook of a 190 to 210 basis point decline,” said David Bergman, chief financial officer at Under Armour, during its Q3 earnings call. “Drilling down further, U.S. tariffs will drive most of the decline, along with unfavorable channel and regional mix and pricing headwinds.”

Under Armour is No. 135 in the Top 2000.

Interest in resale

As for who many benefit in the current tariff environment, online resale growth may offer some clues. As consumers see tariffs driving up prices, some are turning to secondhand stores and marketplaces. The online resale platform ThredUp has claimed benefits from this trend. It also expects to see the end of the de minimis loophole in the U.S. drive new visitors.

“Overall, we believe the effect of tariffs and the closure of the de minimis loophole have been a boost to acquiring new customers and could be a structural tailwind going forward as prices rise in the apparel market,” said James Reinhart, the CEO at ThredUp, during its November 2025 earnings call.

ThredUp plans to report its fiscal Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings results on March 2.

📧 Editor’s note: Subscribe to our retail newsletter to make sure you see each weekly edition of Ecommerce Trends.

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.