Consumer Behavior

Increasing costs reshaping how consumers live, shop, engage with brands

Photo: Generated by AI. Adobe Stock.

July 28, 2025

As costs increase, and tariff policies are enacted, consumers are changing spending behavior, from scaling back to switching brands and re-thinking long-standing habits.

Those are top findings from a UserTesting study that polled 4,000 consumers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, according to a press release.

Additional findings include:

• 42% buying fewer products overall.
• 27% switching to generic or store-brand alternatives.
• 18% shopping second-hand more often.
• 20% traveling less.
• 39% say tariffs prompted them to reconsider summer travel plans entirely.

A good majority, 72%, of U.S. consumers, 55% of Australians and 68% of Brits report noticing tariff-related increases.

Over one-third of Americans report tariffs leave them stressed (37%), with nearly a quarter feeling overwhelmed (23%) when hearing about economic changes tied to trade policy.

"Whether tariffs remain or not, it's clear they've already reshaped consumer habits," Bobby Meixner, VP of solution marketing at UserTesting, said in the release. "Consumers understand that price hikes may be out of a company's control. What they're looking for is honest, upfront communication — and they're making purchase decisions based on it."