{"id":164882,"date":"2025-12-02T20:57:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/164882\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T20:57:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:57:06","slug":"how-this-vancouver-based-online-retailer-is-adjusting-to-the-new-tariff-realities-that-are-hitting-small-businesses-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/164882\/","title":{"rendered":"How this Vancouver-based online retailer is adjusting to the new tariff realities that are hitting small businesses hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rugs by Roo founder Sandy Wong surrounded by boxes in her Vancouver home. Ms. Wong has had to make several adjustments to her online home d\u00e9cor business amid recent trade uncertainty.Supplied<\/p>\n

Entrepreneur Sandy Wong\u2019s living room is stacked floor to ceiling with oversized boxes filled with children\u2019s beanbag chairs shipped from Latvia and temporarily warehoused in her two-bedroom Vancouver apartment.<\/p>\n

They arrive via Canada Post and it\u2019s her job, as founder of the online non-toxic home d\u00e9cor retailer Rugs by Roo, to repackage and ship them to her U.S. customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bulky, not heavy, but bulky,\u201d she says about the bean bag shipments taking up space in the 850-square-foot home she shares with her husband, three kids, dog and cat. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day I\u2019ve been getting shipments from Canada Post\u2026 and then I\u2019ve had to find ways to ship it out [to the U.S.] and it\u2019s not cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the country, entrepreneurs such as Ms. Wong are contending with an unpredictable trade environment. Tariffs and retaliatory measures, coupled with rising freight costs, have added strain to already thin margins.<\/p>\n

Ms. Wong\u2019s Latvian supplier used to ship products directly to her American customers, leaving her living room clutter-free. However, new rules prevent many Latvian companies from shipping to the U.S., meaning Ms. Wong has to reroute her products through Canada, which increases her shipping costs and workload.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to find couriers that will ship to the U.S. for us at the lowest price possible and we\u2019re just bracing ourselves for the hit with tariffs, duties and brokerage fees,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Take, for example, a foldable chair she buys from Latvia for $420: Her company pays $232 to ship it to Canada, and another $343 to ship it to customers in the U.S., which means she pays more in shipping than she does for the chair, which retails for US$1,139 (or about $1,560).<\/p>\n

In another example, the U.S. recently imposed a 50-per-cent tariff on the made-in -India rugs she designs under her own brand, Tuft Love. Ms. Wong ships the rugs from Canada but still pays the tariff when selling them to U.S. customers because the product was manufactured in India. And because these rugs sit at a higher price point \u2014 roughly $3,000 each \u2014 Rugs by Roo has been absorbing the cost increase rather than passing it on to customers.<\/p>\n

The compounding effect of trade wars<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurs across Canada are contending with the ripple effects of the Trump administration\u2019s tariffs, which are also weighing on overall economic growth, says Pierre Cl\u00e9roux, vice-president of research and chief economist at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are worried \u2013 and that slows down part of the economy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sudden policy swings are compounding the strain. Even small changes to cross-border parcel thresholds \u2013 the so-called \u2018de minimis\u2019 rules \u2013 can have outsized effects on small importers, says Karl Littler, senior vice-president, public affairs at the Retail Council of Canada in Toronto.<\/p>\n

The de minimis rule allows low-value imports to enter the U.S. duty-free. In 2015, the threshold rose to $800, but as of August this year, many shipments no longer qualify, adding costs and paperwork for e-commerce firms and likely raising prices for consumers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf a parcel enters Canada under the de minimis limit\u2026the Canadian merchant down the street has to charge tax and duty. That is the competitive problem,\u201d Mr. Littler says.<\/p>\n

The recent reduction of the U.S. de minimis threshold has removed a key advantage for Canadian micro-exporters, says Keith Head, a professor at the University of British Columbia\u2019s Sauder School of Business in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor small businesses, that is a big deal,\u201d Prof. Head says. \u201cThey now pay full tariffs even on small shipments, and uncertainty about future U.S. trade policy makes planning almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurs remain resilient amid trade challenges<\/p>\n

Still, Mr. Cl\u00e9roux says Canadian entrepreneurs are showing resilience through these latest challenges.<\/p>\n

About three-quarters of entrepreneurs surveyed in the BDC State of Entrepreneurship Report 2025 say they\u2019re adapting to the new economy reality by investing in technology, reviewing costs and diversifying their markets. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are squeezed, but they are reacting to protect profitability,\u201d Mr. Cl\u00e9roux says. \u201cThat\u2019s how Canada can stay competitive in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Wong has made her share of adjustments. She now runs the business on her own after having a staff of six a year ago. She has started using an artificial intelligence (AI) customer service platform to help her triage a deluge of customer inquiries, including shipment delays. The AI system handles about a third of inquiries automatically, sending updates to help calm frustrated customers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a lifesaver. I couldn\u2019t keep up otherwise,\u201d Ms. Wong says of the technology.<\/p>\n

Amid the challenges, Ms. Wong says her company remains optimistic and committed to its founding principles of sustainability and transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur vetting process hasn\u2019t changed. If a supplier can\u2019t show ethical standards or certifications, we don\u2019t take them on. What we carry is just more expensive now,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s always a way to adapt. You just have to get creative, even if that means living with a mountain of beanbags in your living room.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Rugs by Roo founder Sandy Wong surrounded by boxes in her Vancouver home.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[15637,138,336,111,139,14485,69,107888],"class_list":{"0":"post-164882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-adveditorial","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-entrepreneurship","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-noastack","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-ordid3864721100teb"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}