Tariff Price Increases and Shopping Behavior Shifts
Measures how tariff-driven price increases have changed actual shopping behavior in the last 90 days — brand switching, trading down to store brands, delaying purchases, and stockpiling — with an AI follow-up that reconstructs the real purchase decision behind the numbers. Built for retail, CPG, and pricing teams tracking behavior, not just attitudes.
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Prices on everyday goods have been shifting fast this year, and tariffs are often part of the story. We're curious how that's actually changed your shopping — not your opinions on trade policy, just what you've done in the last 3 months. About 5 minutes.
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Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
In the last 90 days, have you noticed price increases on things you buy that you believe are tied to tariffs?
- Yes, noticeably
- Yes, slightly
- No, prices seem about the same
- Not sure / haven't paid attention
In which categories have you noticed tariff-related price increases? Select all that apply.
- Groceries & household goods
- Electronics & appliances
- Clothing & footwear
- Furniture & home goods
- Automotive parts or vehicles
- Toys & baby products
- Health & beauty products
For each category below, which best describes what you actually did in the last 90 days when facing higher prices?
- Groceries & household goods
- Electronics & appliances
- Clothing & footwear
- Furniture & home goods
Thinking about the last 90 days, distribute 100 points across these responses to higher prices based on how much each describes what you actually did (more points = more often).
- Switched to a cheaper or store brand
- Switched to a different name brand
- Delayed a purchase I was planning to make
- Stockpiled items before an expected price increase
- Bought less overall / cut back
- Sought out sales, coupons, or promotions
Overall, how much have tariff-related price increases affected your household budget in the last 90 days?
Reconstruct the single most recent purchase where the respondent changed their behavior because of a tariff-driven price increase — what they were buying, what they normally would have done, what they did instead (switched brands, traded down, delayed, or stockpiled), and why. If they say prices haven't affected them at all, probe whether they've simply not noticed or have already adapted their habits in a way that masks the effect.
If these higher prices continue, how likely are you to keep shopping the way you have in the last 90 days (e.g., store brands, delayed purchases)?
- Definitely will continue
- Probably will continue
- Probably will go back to old habits
- Definitely will go back to old habits
- Not sure
Which best describes your stockpiling behavior in the last 90 days?
- Have not stockpiled anything
- Stockpiled once or twice on a specific item
- Regularly buying extra of items I expect to rise in price
- Not sure
What is your age range?
- Under 25
- 25-34
- 35-44
- 45-54
- 55-64
- 65+
- Prefer not to say
What is your approximate annual household income?
- Under $30,000
- $30,000-$59,999
- $60,000-$99,999
- $100,000-$149,999
- $150,000 or more
- Prefer not to say
Thanks for walking through your recent shopping decisions with us. Your answers help us understand how tariff-driven prices are actually changing behavior — not just perceptions — across categories.
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
How it compares
We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.
Why this template
- Includes a dedicated AI follow-up interview question that reconstructs the single most recent purchase where the respondent switched brands — turning a survey stat into an actual decision narrative, not just a rating.
- Combines hard behavioral measures (matrix of category-by-category actions, point-allocation point allocation, stockpiling multiple-choice) with attitude questions, so teams get both what happened and how much it matters.
- Covers the full behavior set retail/CPG/pricing teams need in one flow: noticed increases, categories affected, trade-down/switch/delay behavior, stockpiling type, and continuation likelihood.
- Ends with a closing message and auto-generated report, and — unlike static form tools — lets you inspect the actual AI follow-up prompt used to probe each respondent.
QuestionPro
Retail shopping and search behavior survey questions + Sample questionnaire templateThis is a general retail shopping and search behavior questionnaire, useful as a broad reference for shopping-habit question design rather than a tariff- or price-shock-specific instrument. It reads as a sample template/question bank on a survey-template category page rather than a single fielding-ready survey. Good for teams wanting general search/shopping questions, not for isolating tariff-driven behavior change.
What it does well
- Broad coverage of general shopping and search behavior topics
- Positioned as a ready reference questionnaire with sample questions
- Backed by a large established survey platform
Where it falls short
- No mention of tariff- or price-increase-specific behavior tracking (brand switching, trading down, stockpiling)
- Static question list with no adaptive follow-up to probe the reasoning behind a specific purchase decision
- No visibility into any scoring or prompt methodology since it's a fixed-question format
SurveyMonkey
Online Shopping Survey: Questions & TemplateA general online shopping attitudes template covering habits and preferences broadly, not specifically built around tariff-driven price increases or the last-90-days behavior shift angle. It's a ready-to-send template on a widely used platform, useful for general e-commerce attitude tracking but not for reconstructing a specific recent purchase decision. Good baseline for shopping attitudes, weaker for pricing-shock behavioral diagnostics.
What it does well
- Ready-to-use template on a mainstream, easy-to-deploy survey platform
- Covers general online shopping attitudes and preferences
- Simple to customize for basic e-commerce research
Where it falls short
- No tariff- or price-increase-specific behavior questions (trade-down, stockpiling, category-level impact)
- Fixed-question format with no adaptive AI follow-up to reconstruct an actual purchase decision
- No per-response quality scoring or transparent prompt methodology
SurveySparrow
Price Sensitivity Questionnaire TemplateThis template focuses on general price sensitivity (e.g., willingness-to-pay style questions) rather than tariff-driven price increases or actual observed behavior shifts over a defined recent period. It's a standard static questionnaire template, well-suited to pricing research generally, but doesn't address stockpiling, trading down, or reconstructing a real purchase decision. Useful for classic price-sensitivity work, not for tariff-specific behavioral tracking.
What it does well
- Purpose-built around price sensitivity as a topic
- Template format is quick to deploy for pricing research
- Fits within a platform aimed at marketing use cases
Where it falls short
- No tariff-specific framing or 90-day behavior-change measurement
- No matrix-style per-category behavior tracking or stockpiling classification
- Static question set with no adaptive AI interview to probe the real decision behind a price-sensitivity response
Frequently asked questions
What questions are in the “Tariff Price Increases and Shopping Behavior Shifts” template?
The template includes 12 ready-to-use questions, starting with: “Prices on everyday goods have been shifting fast this year, and tariffs are often part of the story. We're curious how t…” · “In the last 90 days, have you noticed price increases on things you buy that you believe are tied to tariffs?” · “In which categories have you noticed tariff-related price increases? Select all that apply.”. The full set is previewed above, and every question is editable.
How long does this survey take to complete?
Respondents typically finish the 12 questions in about 7 minutes.
Can I customize this template?
Yes — every question, answer option, and the ordering is editable before you launch. You can add or remove questions, or ask the AI editor to rework the survey around your research goal.
Is this template free to use?
Yes. Open it in the editor and start customizing right away — no account required to try it, and the free plan covers launching your survey.
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.
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