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A TARGET employee has admitted a popular item was given an $8 markup overnight – just hours after a worrying Walmart warning.
For months, consumers have been warned about rising retail costs, and this has been dubbed just the beginning by wary workers.
For months, consumers have been warned about rising retail costs, and this has been dubbed just the beginning by wary workers[/caption]
John Rainey, Walmart’s chief financial officer issued the warning following the Q1 earnings call[/caption]
The looming threat of what Donald Trump‘s tariff plan will mean for the average shopper has so far been more hypothetical.
But now, a massive tariff price hike has been discovered at Target, suggesting a scary and expensive future to come for consumers.
The Daily Mail reports that employees believe that the price rises are “happening”.
The Target worker shared the dramatic price increase of a USB-C cord from the store’s in-house Heyday brand.
It had shot up from $9.99 to $17.99 in the blink of an eye.
That’s an 80% markup for shoppers to have to pay, and it isn’t stopping there.
It is now said that all of the Heyday products are going up in price, with markups higher than 80% entirely possible very soon.
The shift is being directly blamed on Trump’s tariffs, as economic experts have warned that shoppers will be the ones to feel the effect.
One shopper said on Reddit: “I’m kinda scared to do back to school shopping in July and August.”
This is not news to Target shoppers, given the daunting message that CEO Brian Cornell offered back in March, as reported by The US Sun.
Cornell sent an ominous warning to Americans in an interview with CNBC: “Those are categories where we’ll try to protect pricing, but the consumer will likely see price increases over the next couple of days.
“If there’s a 25% tariff, those prices will go up.”
WALMART WARNING
Most recently, the CFO of Walmart has spoken out about the tariffs and has admitted he is “concerned”.
The US Sun reported on the message from the chief, as even more American consumers stand to be hit by price rises.
John Rainey, Walmart‘s chief financial officer also thinks consumers will begin to see higher prices in the coming months.
He said: “We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb.
“It’s more than any supplier can absorb.
“And so I’m concerned that consumer is going to start seeing higher prices.
“You’ll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June.”
What items will be affected by the tariffs?
AMERICANS should prepare to see significant prices changes on everything from avocados to cars under President Donald Trump's new global tariffs.
Here is a list of some of the everyday products that could see a massive price tag surge.
- Coffee
- Tea
- Bananas
- Foreign-made cars
- Sneakers
- Furniture and other home goods
- Pharmaceuticals
- Video games
- Clothing
- Toys
- Washers and dryers
- Avocados
- Housing materials
He added that “this is a little bit unprecedented in terms of the speed and magnitude in which the price increases are coming.”
However, that sentiment has been criticized by Bill Simon, the CEO of Walmart from 2010 to 2014.
Simon believes that Walmart could absorb the price rises without passing them along to customers.
He fired back: “”If you look down deep and dig into the details of their earnings release today, you know this quarter they grew their gross profit margin in the US business 25 basis points.
“So, they’re expanding their margin. They also reported their general merchandise categories were flattish because they had mid-single digit price deflation.
“That sort of gives them room in my view to manage any tariff impact that they would have.”
The shift is being directly blamed on Trump’s tariffs, as economic experts have warned that shoppers will be the ones to feel the effect[/caption]
One shopper said on Reddit: “I’m kinda scared to do back to school shopping in July and August”[/caption]
