{"id":150082,"date":"2025-06-01T18:19:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T18:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/150082\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T18:19:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T18:19:28","slug":"are-pandemic-era-shopping-shortages-returning-3-reasons-to-stock-up-now-and-3-not-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/150082\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Pandemic-Era Shopping Shortages Returning? 3 Reasons To Stock Up Now (And 3 Not To)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As tariffs impact global trade routes, some consumers worry that store shelves could soon resemble the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic \u2014 bare and unpredictable, and possibly hard on the budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn More: Trump\u2019s Tariffs: Here\u2019s What Economists Think Will Happen After the 90-Day Pause<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Find Out: 4 Housing Markets That Have Plummeted in Value Over the Past 5 Years<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Earlier this year, a growing number of U.S. consumers said they were stockpiling goods in anticipation of rising prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m buying double of whatever \u2014 beans, canned goods, flour, you name it,\u201d Thomas Jennings, a shopper in New Jersey, told a Reuters<\/a> reporter as he prepared for potential price hikes and shortages.<\/p>\n

While prices have dominated recent headlines, delays in shipping and customs backlogs are quietly creating stock shortages in key sectors. And, although President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs were recently declared unlawful by the Court of International Trade, they were quickly temporarily reinstated. The Trump administration is also pushing back in an attempt to implement the tariffs, leaving their fate unknown for now.<\/p>\n

Are pandemic-era shopping shortages returning? Here are three reasons to stock up now and three reasons not to<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the tariffs do stick around, here are the reasons you might want to start stocking up.<\/p>\n

Read Next: Trump Wants To Eliminate Income Taxes: Here\u2019s How Long Experts Think It Could Take<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shane Lucado, founder and CEO of InPerSuit Inc.<\/a>, a legal technology company, said consumers should watch for signals in logistics contracts and freight indexes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen companies start renegotiating delivery terms mid-year, something big is shifting,\u201d Lucado said. \u201cFreight delays plus tariff spikes mean manufacturers hedge risk by cutting supply. That ripples into job cuts, stock adjustments and vendor shakeups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Fischer, vice president of product strategy at Cin7<\/a>, an inventory management platform, said Chinese imports will be hit the hardest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to impact several specific industries, such as electronics, apparel, footwear, auto parts, toys, and sporting goods,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cThe good news is that these aren\u2019t the types of products consumers are buying every day. But this will impact seasonal spikes in purchases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baby furniture and European goods are current examples of accessible but vulnerable inventory.<\/p>\n

\u201cPurchasing baby furniture is the smartest move right now,\u201d said Johanna Bialkin, CEO of Aldea Home & Baby<\/a>. \u201cGliders, cribs and dressers, especially from Europe, are still in stock and still at a good value right now. We are expecting the tariffs in the EU to drive up demand and pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

Panic won\u2019t do you any favors, so make sure you consider the reasons not to stock up before you hit the store.<\/p>\n

Acting out of urgency rather than need may leave consumers with items that don\u2019t suit their lifestyle or, worse, that they can\u2019t return.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people make decisions they regret<\/a>, like buying a full-size stroller when you actually realize you want something lightweight,\u201d Bialkin said. \u201cWe love the process of education and will continue to leverage our 20 years of expertise to help our consumers buy when it is the right moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the pandemic, when supply disruptions unfolded gradually and predictably, today\u2019s potential trade-related shortages are harder to anticipate.<\/p>\n

Factors such as small business closures, volatile pricing and inconsistent trade policies make inventory gaps unpredictable and category-specific. Stockpiling everything \u201cjust in case\u201d could strain household budgets<\/a> and storage space with little payoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a 44.8% spike in apparel sales during the week of March 31,\u201d said Raj De Datta, CEO and founder of Bloomreach<\/a>, an AI-driven personalization platform. \u201cThat\u2019s consumers trying to get ahead of price hikes due to China-focused tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Datta added, \u201cWhen tariffs hit basics, like a $100 shoe line suddenly costing $300, some retailers may pause entire product lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

In times of uncertainty, it\u2019s natural to consider stocking up on essentials. However, financial experts caution against excessive spending that could jeopardize personal finances and encourage the use of credit cards for everyday purchases.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake sure you know where every dollar is going right now, because it\u2019s more important than ever to do so,\u201d Thomas Nitzsche, a financial educator at the nonprofit\u00a0Money Management International (MMI), told NBC10 Boston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He explained, \u201cWhen you see $10 for a dozen eggs, it is really a wake-up call. If it is something you know you\u2019ll need, you want to buy now, feel free. But just use caution, because if you finance it, you really got to do the long-term math on that to see, is this really going to make sense? Am I going to end up paying more in interest than I would have saved if I just waited?\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More From GOBankingRates<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>: Are Pandemic-Era Shopping Shortages Returning? 3 Reasons To Stock Up Now (And 3 Not To)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As tariffs impact global trade routes, some consumers worry that store shelves could soon resemble the early days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,26514,64172,1700,64168,6202,64171,64169,64167,64170,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-150082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-consumers","10":"tag-court-of-international-trade","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-johanna-bialkin","13":"tag-president-donald-trump","14":"tag-raj-de-datta","15":"tag-stock-shortages","16":"tag-thomas-jennings","17":"tag-trade-routes","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114609492091678855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}