SMBs Are Done Waiting on Tariffs: Why 97% Are Actively Reworking Supply Chains

Small and midsize importers have moved past the “wait and see” phase of tariff management. That matters because SMBs rarely have the cushion that large enterprises use to absorb trade-policy volatility: dedicated customs teams, global sourcing offices, bonded-warehouse strategies, and procurement leverage across multiple continents.

The new reality is much more operational. According to FreightWaves reporting on Netstock’s 2026 Tariff Impact Report, 97% of SMBs are now deploying at least one active tariff mitigation strategy. Netstock’s Jefferson Barr told FreightWaves that last year was largely “wait-and-see,” but that posture has broken down as tariffs stretch into a second year of structured volatility.

For freight forwarders and logistics providers serving mid-market importers, this is not just a trade-compliance story. It is a shipment-pattern story. When smaller companies diversify suppliers, extend planning horizons, hold more buffer inventory, and lean harder on analytics, their freight changes: more origin complexity, more split purchase orders, more uncertainty around booking windows, and more pressure to connect landed cost with transportation execution.

Supplier diversification is fragmenting freight flows

The most visible shift is sourcing. FreightWaves reported that about 35% of SMBs changed suppliers in the past year, while nearly half now source from multiple regions. China remains the most impacted sourcing region, cited by 74% of respondents, but SMBs are also branching into Europe, Southeast Asia, and Mexico.

That sounds straightforward in a boardroom. On the freight desk, it is messy.

A shipper that once moved predictable monthly ocean containers from two Chinese vendors may now be balancing smaller volumes from Vietnam, Mexico, Europe, and a legacy Chinese supplier it cannot fully replace. That changes consolidation opportunities, Incoterms exposure, drayage patterns, customs documentation, and inland routing. It may also move freight from full-container-load economics toward more LCL, airfreight exceptions, cross-border truckload, and mixed-mode replenishment.

The hard part for SMBs is that supplier diversification rarely means supplier substitution. Barr noted that finding replacement production is difficult, especially when an existing Chinese supplier can match cost, quality, tooling, and scale. Many companies are therefore adding secondary sources while keeping legacy partners. That hybrid model reduces tariff dependence, but it also makes the transportation network harder to forecast.

Longer planning horizons create new inventory risk

Tariff volatility is also changing how far ahead SMBs plan. FreightWaves reported that nearly three-quarters of SMBs have extended their inventory planning horizons. That is a rational response to policy uncertainty, but it is not a free win.

Longer planning horizons can protect against sudden duty increases, port disruptions, supplier delays, and capacity shortages. They can also bury working capital in the wrong inventory if demand shifts or if tariffs change after goods are already in motion. Smaller importers feel that pain faster than enterprise shippers because cash flow and warehouse space are tighter.

A second FreightWaves analysis found that import demand has not yet been the primary driver of the recent domestic freight-market tightening. The Inbound Ocean TEUs Volume Index stood at 1,715, well below its June 2021 peak of 2,692 and closer to multi-year lows for this time of year. But the article also warned that tariff anxiety in 2024 and 2025 drove erratic ordering and inventory growth, and that leaner warehouses are less able to absorb demand shocks when transportation service becomes less consistent.

That is the danger zone for SMBs: running lean enough to preserve cash, but not so lean that one tariff change or missed sailing turns into stockouts.

Price increases show cost absorption is fading

The tariff story is also becoming a customer-price story. Netstock’s survey found that 82% of companies are now raising prices in response to tariffs, up sharply from the prior year. That signals that many SMBs have reached the limit of absorbing duty costs internally.

Deloitte’s 2026 retail outlook reinforces the macro pressure. Deloitte expects tariffs to boost inflation in 2026 and reduce consumer purchasing power, while low- and middle-income households face increasing financial stress. For importers selling into retail or consumer channels, that creates a tough equation: raise prices and risk demand softness, or hold prices and compress margins.

Freight choices sit inside that equation. A company facing tariff-driven price pressure may be tempted to chase the cheapest transportation option on every shipment. That can backfire if slow or unreliable service causes missed sales, chargebacks, expedites, or emergency airfreight. The better answer is total landed-cost discipline: duty exposure, purchase price, freight cost, inventory carrying cost, service risk, and customer impact in one view.

Analytics are becoming table stakes for smaller shippers

The most important line in the FreightWaves article may be Barr’s blunt assessment: “The spreadsheet’s not going to cut it.” Netstock found that heavy use of analytics more than doubled year over year, while adoption of AI-driven inventory tools continues to rise.

That does not mean every SMB needs an enterprise control tower. It does mean tariff mitigation has become too dynamic for disconnected emails, static purchase-order reports, and manual freight spreadsheets. Smaller shippers need clean SKU and supplier data, documented routing rules, milestone visibility, landed-cost estimates, customs-document capture, and exception alerts before goods are delayed.

A tariff-volatility checklist for forwarders

For mid-market importers, the right response is not panic buying. It is structured flexibility. Forwarders can help customers build that discipline with a simple operating checklist:

• Map supplier exposure by country, SKU, annual spend, and tariff classification.
• Identify which suppliers are replaceable, which are strategic, and which need secondary sourcing.
• Model landed cost by origin, not just product cost or freight rate.
• Separate planned buffer inventory from reactive overbuying.
• Track lead-time changes by supplier and lane as new origins come online.
• Create escalation rules for tariff announcements, customs holds, and missed bookings.
• Keep documentation evidence organized for classification, origin, and duty review.

The key is connecting trade decisions to freight execution. A sourcing change is not complete when procurement signs with a new supplier. It is complete when the shipment can be booked, documented, tracked, cleared, delivered, costed, and audited without heroic manual work.

CXTMS helps turn tariff strategy into execution

Tariff volatility will not disappear just because SMBs are tired of reacting to it. The companies that perform best will be the ones that convert uncertainty into repeatable workflows: supplier visibility, shipment planning, carrier coordination, document control, exception management, and landed-cost awareness.

CXTMS gives logistics teams one execution layer for that work. Instead of managing tariff-driven supply-chain changes across spreadsheets and inboxes, teams can coordinate freight, track milestones, manage exceptions, and keep operational data connected to cost decisions.

When 97% of SMBs are already taking action, the competitive question is no longer whether to respond. It is whether the response is disciplined enough to hold up when the next tariff change hits. Schedule a CXTMS demo to see how better transportation execution can help your team manage tariff volatility without losing control of the freight network.