*UPDATE (May 12, 2025): The U.S. and China agreed to cut tariffs on each other’s goods. The following are key takeaways from that negotiation:

• Tariffs slashed: By May 14, the US will temporarily lower its overall tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%
• Temporary deal: The new lower rates are set for 90 days while broader negotiations continue.
• Fentanyl-related tariff remains: A 20% U.S. tariff tied to China’s role in the fentanyl trade is still in effect.
• Further cuts unlikely: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted it’s “implausible” for tariffs to fall below 10%.
• Market reaction:
  • Nasdaq surged 4%
  • Dow Jones rebounded above pre-tariff levels
  • Shares of Amazon, Apple, and Tesla jumped
• Ecommerce impact: Trade between the U.S. and China had nearly dried up in 2025—this shift offers potential relief, but uncertainty remains.
  
  Key tariffs remain in place, and long-term uncertainty still looms—making it critical for brands to stay agile and strategy-driven in how they respond.
  
  

Introduction:

Rising tariffs and global economic shifts are creating new challenges for ecommerce brands — from tightening margins to increased COGS and unpredictable supply chain costs. But disruption doesn’t have to mean decline. For agile sellers, these moments can become inflection points for smarter, leaner growth.

Technology and AI now play a critical role in helping brands navigate this complexity. Sellers no longer need to rely on guesswork or gut instinct. With the right tools, it’s possible to automate tedious tasks, analyze profitability in real time, shift strategies across marketplaces, and protect ad performance — all with speed and precision.

Teikametrics provides the AI-powered foundation sellers need to respond to today’s tariff pressures. Whether you’re reevaluating pricing, scaling to new platforms, or reallocating ad budgets in response to cost changes, Teikametrics gives you the insights and automation to act fast — and with confidence.

In the sections below, we outline eight key strategies ecommerce sellers can use to adapt and thrive, along with how Teikametrics helps bring each one to life.

Worried about rising costs from new tariffs? See how our AI helps you stay profitable

But First: Should You Cut Ad Spend During Tariffs? Here’s Why That’s Risky

It might feel intuitive to slash ad budgets when tariffs drive up product costs — especially if margins are under pressure. But pulling back too far or too fast on advertising can actually hurt your long-term profitability more than it helps in the short term.

Here’s why sellers should think twice before pausing campaigns:

• You risk losing visibility and ranking. Platforms like Amazon and Walmart heavily reward consistent ad-driven engagement. When you pause ads, sales can slow, and your organic search rank often follows — making it more expensive to recover later.
• Competitors won’t stop. Every dollar you pull back is an opportunity for other brands to capture your visibility, clicks, and customers — especially during high-traffic seasons.
• Re-entry costs are high. Once you fall off the radar, it takes a bigger spend and more time to rebuild momentum. Staying present, even with a leaner strategy, helps maintain your competitive edge.
• Platform algorithms rely on momentum. Whether it’s Amazon’s Best Seller Rank or TikTok Shop’s engagement-based feed, these systems reward consistency. Going dark sends the wrong signal at the wrong time.

Instead of cutting spend completely, sellers should shift to smarter, more efficient ad strategies: tightening targeting, focusing on high-margin SKUs, testing other marketplaces like Walmart or TikTok, and leveraging AI to do more with less.

That being said, let’s jump into how you can take action with Teikametrics:

1. One Centralized System for Smarter, Faster Decisions

Why it matters:
In a high-pressure environment, you don’t have time to bounce between platforms.

How Teikametrics helps:
By bringing your advertising, inventory, sales, profitability, and forecasting tools together into one intuitive platform, Teikametrics eliminates data silos. That’s especially critical when tariff-related changes affect multiple parts of your business at once. With unified data views across Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok, you can see what’s working, diagnose issues faster, and pivot quickly — all without leaving the platform.

2. Expand Into New Marketplaces Quickly & Efficiently

Why it matters:
Diversifying your sales channels can reduce risk and increase resilience. If tariffs make profitability harder on Amazon, sellers need fast access to alternative marketplaces.

How Teikametrics helps: Teikametrics gives sellers a streamlined way to scale across marketplaces without reinventing the wheel. With Teikametrics, you get a unified view of your catalog, inventory, and advertising across Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok. Instead of managing each platform separately, Teikametrics makes it easy to monitor performance and optimize strategy from one central hub, reducing the operational overhead of expanding into new channels.

3. Implement New Ad Types to Expand Reach — Especially AMC & DSP

Why it matters:
Rising COGS means every dollar spent on ads needs to stretch further. That often starts with reaching higher-value audiences across the funnel.

How Teikametrics helps:
Teikametrics unlocks advanced advertising capabilities like Amazon DSP and AMC—without requiring deep technical skills. AMC helps you uncover full-funnel insights like how customers discover your products, what they add to cart, and how long they take to convert. DSP then turns those insights into action, allowing you to target high-intent and repeat customers with display ads on and off Amazon. By layering in these ad types alongside Sponsored Product ads, Sponsored Brand ads and more, you can build more profitable journeys for shoppers — especially important when you can’t afford wasted spend.end, or expanding into new channels, our team is here to partner with you every step of the way through these shifting market conditions.

4. Automate Your Bid Management at Scale

Why it matters:
Tariffs introduce volatility — and adjusting your bids manually every time market conditions change simply isn’t sustainable.

How Teikametrics helps: Our Predictive AI Bidder dynamically adjusts your bids based on changes in performance, demand, and conversion trends — even hourly. Rather than relying on historical averages or gut instinct, it uses real-time signals to raise or lower bids where appropriate, maximizing your return without overpaying. Whether you’re responding to increased competition, seasonal changes, or margin pressure from tariffs, Teikametrics keeps your campaigns efficient and streamlined.

5. Optimize Your Advertising at Scale with AI

Why it matters:
You can’t afford inefficiencies when tariffs are squeezing your margins. Ad dollars must work harder and smarter.

How Teikametrics helps:
With Smart Campaigns, you define your goal — like growth, liquidation, or profitability — and our AI handles the rest. It automatically selects high-performing keywords, sets bids, and makes daily optimizations based on performance signals. Even across multiple ad types and marketplaces, your strategy stays cohesive and responsive. This means you spend less time fine-tuning and more time growing — with campaigns that adjust as your business needs change in response to tariff impacts.

6. AI-Powered Inventory Management & Optimization

Why it matters:
Over-ordering can tie up cash. Underordering means missed revenue. Tariffs make it more critical than ever to manage inventory efficiently.

How Teikametrics helps:
Our Inventory Optimization tools use AI to forecast demand, calculate lost sales due to stockouts, and flag underperforming or stale inventory. Custom alerts help you stay ahead of low stock or shifting sales velocity. When tariffs affect what products cost to import or restock, you’ll need to adjust not just your ads — but also your inventory strategy. Teikametrics links inventory and advertising data so you can avoid over-promoting low-margin items and prioritize SKUs that are both in-stock and profitable.

7. Budget Management: Stay on Track and Adapt in Real-Time

Why it matters:
Tight margins demand tighter controls. But staying flexible is just as important as staying on budget.

How Teikametrics helps:
Teikametrics budget pacing lets you set ad spend limits by merchant, group, or campaign — then adjust them instantly based on real-time performance. Month-to-date tracking shows how spend is pacing toward your monthly budget, so you can pull back or reinvest without surprises. When tariffs cause sudden cost shifts, you’ll have the agility to pause spend on lower-margin campaigns or double down on what’s working — all while keeping overall spend within target.

8. Monitor and Adjust Your Pricing & Profitability in Real-Time

Why it matters:
As tariffs raise your COGS, you need to know how pricing changes impact your margins.

How Teikametrics helps:
Upload and update COGS at the SKU level to see real-time gross profit estimates directly in your dashboard. This lets you monitor how margin changes impact advertising efficiency (like ROAS or TACoS) and profitability. If your costs rise, you can quickly evaluate whether a price increase, product bundling, or ad strategy shift is the right move — backed by live data, not assumptions.

Conclusion

In a world where tariffs and shifting costs can quickly upend your margins, sellers need more than just quick fixes — they need adaptable, intelligent systems that provide clarity and control. Teikametrics empowers you to respond proactively with automation, visibility, and multichannel optimization, so you can protect profitability while continuing to grow. Whether you’re expanding to new platforms, tightening budgets, or rethinking ad strategy, Teikametrics gives you the tools to move faster, spend smarter, and stay ahead.

Worried about rising costs from new tariffs? See how our AI helps you stay profitable