Latest news with #vanMeer
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'
Afina founder Ramon van Meer wanted to see if people would buy a Made-in-USA version of his specialty shower head. He found it would cost three times as much to produce — and raised the sale price by 85%. After several days of testing, a total of zero customers bought the USA model. As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America. When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is. "I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider. So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head. Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier. To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff. Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239. "I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts." "When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added. After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version. In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering." "We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote. Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate. "Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it." Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff. Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided. "We'll probably do testing," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'
Afina founder Ramon van Meer wanted to see if people would buy a Made-in-USA version of his specialty shower head. He found it would cost three times as much to produce — and raised the sale price by 85%. After several days of testing, a total of zero customers bought the USA model. As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America. When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is. "I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider. So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head. Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier. To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff. Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239. "I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts." "When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added. After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version. In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering." "We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote. Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate. "Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it." Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff. Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided. "We'll probably do testing," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
11-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'
As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America. When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is. "I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider. So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head. Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier. To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff. Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239. "I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts." "When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added. After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version. In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering." "We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote. Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate. "Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it." Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff. Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided. "We'll probably do testing," he said.
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Experiment settles if Americans will pay more for 'Made in USA' goods
A small business ran a clever experiment to see if consumers would pay more for American-made products — and the results were decisive. Ramon van Meer — owner of Afina, which sells self-filtering shower heads — was facing skyrocketing costs due to Trump's new 145 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods. 'We found a US supplier. Our costs nearly tripled.' To test consumer appetite, van Meer offered 25,000 shoppers a choice: the original $129 'Made in Asia ' shower head or an $239 'Made in USA' version — an 85 percent increase in price. Van Meer said business owners often hear consumers say they would pay more for domestically-made products but he was skeptical if they would do so in practice. 'The results were brutal,' van Meer admitted of the experiment. 'We want to bring back domestic manufacturing. But when consumers face the actual price tag — they didn't,' he explained. 'It's not because they don't care. I think it is because most people are not willing to pay the premium (yet).' Van Meer said his team ensured marketing for each item matched perfectly, they also ran the experiment over multiple days and traffic sources. 'For a moment, we thought we'd made a technical error. We hadn't,' he wrote on Afina's website. The business owner said he doesn't blame American consumers, who have faced years of inflation and now an uncertain economy. 'If policymakers and pundits want to rebuild American industry, they need to grapple with this truth: idealism doesn't always survive contact with a price tag' he wrote. Consumers are set to find rising prices across an array of goods as the consequences of Trump's tariffs begin to trickle through. Ford has informed car dealers that sticker prices will climb across its vehicle fleet in June. Amazon has incurred the wrath of the White House by advertising the cost of tariffs on the items it sells online. The ecommerce giant was later forced to back down after Trump declared 'war' on the 'hostile act.' Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Experiment proves once and for all if Americans will pay more for 'Made in USA' goods amid Trump's tariff
A small business ran a clever experiment to see if consumers would pay more for American-made products — and the results were decisive. Ramon van Meer — owner of Afina, which sells self-filtering shower heads — was facing skyrocketing costs due to Trump's new 145 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods. To explore reshoring, van Meer sourced a US manufacturer — only to find his production costs nearly tripled. 'We make a $129 filtered showerhead in China. With tariffs surging we explored US manufacturing,' he wrote on X. 'We found a US supplier. Our costs nearly tripled.' To test consumer appetite, van Meer offered 25,000 shoppers a choice: the original $129 'Made in Asia' shower head or an $239 'Made in USA' version — an 85 percent increase in price. At the conclusion of the experiment not a single customer bought the American-made version. Furthermore, fewer than 1 percent got as far as adding the American product to their carts. Meanwhile, 3,500 bought the cheaper model. 'It wasn't a marketing failure—it was a referendum on price,' van Meer said. Afina's landing page showed the two different options Van Meer said business owners often hear consumers say they would pay more for domestically-made products but he was skeptical if they would do so in practice. 'The results were brutal,' van Meer admitted of the experiment. 'We want to bring back domestic manufacturing. But when consumers face the actual price tag — they didn't,' he explained. 'It's not because they don't care. I think it is because most people are not willing to pay the premium (yet).' Van Meer said his team ensured marketing for each item matched perfectly, they also ran the experiment over multiple days and traffic sources. 'For a moment, we thought we'd made a technical error. We hadn't,' he wrote on Afina's website. The business owner said he doesn't blame American consumers, who have faced years of inflation and now an uncertain economy. 'If policymakers and pundits want to rebuild American industry, they need to grapple with this truth: idealism doesn't always survive contact with a price tag' he wrote. Consumers are set to find rising prices across an array of goods as the consequences of Trump's tariffs begin to trickle through. Ford has informed car dealers that sticker prices will climb across its vehicle fleet in June. Amazon has incurred the wrath of the White House by advertising the cost of tariffs on the items it sells online. The ecommerce giant was later forced to back down after Trump declared 'war' on the 'hostile act.'
