(NewsNation) — With all the back-and-forth on tariffs, a small business owner decided to put American buyers to the test by launching an experiment to see whether or not they’re willing to pay extra for American-made products as they say they are.
Ramon van Meer, the owner of Austin, Texas-based Afina, which makes filtered shower heads, listed his products as either American-made or Asian-made, costing either $239 or $129, respectively. Van Meer found that out of the more than 25,000 website visitors, only 24 shoppers added the American-made product to their carts, but they did not buy it at all.
Van Meer also found that 3,500 customers added the cheaper, Asian-made shower head to their cart, and more than 600 of them were sold.
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Van Meer joined “NewsNation Now” on Wednesday and said the reason he wanted to experiment is that he and other small businesses are affected by tariff increases. When he saw the tariff increase jump to 50%, he wondered how he would be able to find manufacturers in the U.S.
“I wondered if people really were willing to pay that extra premium in order for me to even have a business,” Van Meer said.
He said from the experiment, he was surprised and not surprised because he believes shoppers will favor good deals and want to pay as little as possible.
“I was not expecting that zero people would opt in for the made in the U.S.A. version,” Van Meer said. He added that in general, his American-made inventory doesn’t sell much at all.
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Van Meer said there are currently no factories in the country that make the specialty shower heads his company has, and that is what is causing a higher price difference. He said that after seeing how his experiment played out, he believes there is no option to find a solution in the U.S.
“Because the price difference was significant, I don’t blame them either,” Van Meer said. “I also think a lot of consumers understand that just because it’s made in a different country doesn’t mean it’s less quality.”
Van Meer said if everyone knew that some things are the same product and quality, business owners will opt in for what is more cost-efficient.
