Faire, the online business-to-business marketplace, released a new report, titled “Independent Retail Pulse: Tariff Data and Insights Tracker,” which spotlights the impact of tariffs on business.

Since the platform connects independent retailers with brands from around the world, it generates millions of transactions that the company said offers “a unique view into how buying behavior shifts as the environment around small businesses changes.”

The data revealed that tariff structure matters. “Differentiated tariffs, or tariffs applied at different rates to different countries or to one country in isolation, are associated with measurable shifts in where independent retailers buy; uniform tariffs largely haven’t moved the needle,” the report’s authors said, adding that tariffs can accelerate shifts that are already underway.

“Canada and the U.K. were already moving toward domestic brands before Liberation Day tariffs in 2025; those trends have continued and, particularly in Canada, accelerated during the recent tariff period,” the report noted.

The report also said retailers and brands can move ahead of implementation and not just after it. In Canada, for example, researchers found that buying behavior began shifting just after the most recent tariff announcement “and that shift has continued to deepen in the weeks since the tariff took effect on Sept. 8.”

“A lot of the data out there on tariffs looks at what’s happening farther down the supply chain or measures sentiment about what might happen,” said Jeff Kolovson, Faire’s chief operating officer.

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