If you’re considering a new couch or coffee table, now might be the perfect moment to make your purchase.
Shoppers have been cautioned by Wells Fargo that household items, particularly furniture, could see a sharp rise in prices as the impact of tariffs takes hold.
The financial institution advises consumers to buy home goods sooner rather than later, ahead of the anticipated increase in import duties scheduled for early 2026.
Furniture, in particular, is predicted to undergo a ‘noticeable’ price hike in the coming months.
According to Lauren Murphy, managing director of Wells Fargo Retail Finance, retailers have mostly tried to maintain stable prices or implement slight increases this holiday season, often featuring targeted promotions and significant discounts on select products.
In early 2025, Murphy told Fox Business that retailers had proactively increased their inventory purchases to get ahead of impending tariff effects.
Murphy warned that the duties will likely make new shipments more expensive, and retailers may pass those higher costs on to consumers in 2026.
‘Tariffs have not yet been passed across in full, so it is reasonable to expect some price increases in 2026,’ Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData, told The Daily Mail.
Lauren Murphy, managing director of Wells Fargo Retail Finance, warned that it might be time to stock up on household items that could become a lot pricier in the new year
A major bank has warned that it might be time to stock up on several household items that could become a lot pricier in the new year
Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData
Saunders continued: ‘This especially applies to home furnishings as they have been subjected to sector specific tariffs.’
‘That said, retailers will need to act with care as demand is still weak and consumers may simply shun those chains that push up prices too much,’ Saunders added.
‘Consumers should shop around for furnishings as some channels like resale and off-price will still have very sharp prices.’
Home goods retailers depend on imported products and can’t easily absorb higher tariff costs, so price increases are likely to come sooner.
Some home goods retailers have already begun quietly raising prices, Murphy said, and shoppers could start seeing higher price tags within months.
Furniture is particularly sensitive because of its high cost. Even a 10 percent increase can be enough to push buyers out of the market, Murphy explained
Other retail categories, such as clothes, are also expected to be affected — but more gradually, since lower prices soften the impact of tariffs.
According to retail strategist Carol Spieckerman, the real question isn’t which home goods will rise in price, but which retailers can handle tariffs best. That’s more relevant for shoppers than trying to guess which items to stockpile.
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How are rising prices on everyday goods and furniture changing your shopping habits and priorities?
If you’re eyeing up a new couch or coffee table, now is the time to seal the deal.
While some areas have not yet felt the full impact of tariffs, many sectors – such as the grocery industry – have already been hit by price hikes
Carol Spieckerman, retail strategist
Spieckerman suggests that consumers shouldn’t try to outguess tariffs. Retailers have many tools — dynamic pricing, supplier negotiations, sourcing shifts, and profitable services — to manage costs.
‘The Wells Fargo suggestion to buy large furniture now is overly simplistic,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘Furniture pricing depends on so many variables — where it’s manufactured, which retailer you’re buying from, whether it’s imported or domestic.’
Spieckerman’s advice for shoppers is to ‘let the retailers with billion-dollar supply chains worry about tariffs — you just worry about whether you actually need that couch.’
While some areas have not yet felt the full impact of tariffs, many sectors have already been hit.
Food and beverage prices shot up earlier this year because, unlike furniture and apparel, shorter supply chains and shelf lives meant that such produce couldn’t be stockpiled for long.
These products are bought and restocked constantly, so new tariff costs showed up in prices faster because of the quick inventory turn over.
Everyday grocery items such as cheese, chocolate, coffee, and alcohol saw noticeable price hikes.
Kyle Peacock, founder of Peacock Tariff Consulting, told The Daily Mail in August that Americans should expect to add an extra $40 a week to their grocery bill by the end of 2025 due to tariffs.
