The Kastlfel Reciprocal Tariffs Calculator:
A Tool for Scenario Planning and Price Strategy

A Strategic Approach to Tariff Management: Why We Created This Calculator

In today's rapidly changing tariff environment, we felt we needed to ask ourselves critical questions that demand immediate answers. As conversations with our retail partners increasingly centered on possible retail price increases and consumer tolerance limits, we realized the need for a tool that could facilitate different scenarios with landed and wholesale prices to see where retail prices might be set and to facilitate discussions with our partners.

The Kastlfel Tariffs Calculator emerged from this need - not just to calculate landed costs, but to create a shared decision-making framework for Kastlfel that considered how our vendors and retailers might respond as well. While not claiming perfection, this tool provides a platform for essential conversations about pricing strategy, margin expectations, and sourcing alternatives.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Simply passing tariff increases through the entire value chain is proving increasingly unsustainable. Consumers fatigued by years of inflation since 2020 have clear spending limits. Combine this with interest rates at 15-year highs, brands and retailers could face a compound challenge of higher inventory costs with potentially slower sell-through.

To help navigate these challenging waters we felt our Kastlfel Tariffs Calculator might be of value to others, so as free resource we invite you to use this calculator not just as a computational tool, but as a catalyst for the collaborative conversations needed across the supply chain. By exploring various scenarios businesses at all levels can develop pricing and sourcing strategies that maintain viability throughout the value chain while respecting consumer price tolerance. 

Beyond Basic Tariff Calculations

While many tools simply calculate the added costs of tariffs, our calculator takes a holistic approach to understanding the full impact on your business and across the value chain:

1. Complete Supply Chain Visibility

The calculator doesn't just show the immediate tariff impact—it reveals the cascading effects throughout your entire supply chain, from FOB costs to final retail pricing. See how changes at each stage affect your margins and competitiveness.

2. Comprehensive Scenario Planning

Rather than just showing current tariff impacts, the calculator enables comprehensive scenario planning - letting you model different tariff rates, pricing strategies, and margin structures to find optimal approaches for your specific market position. This "what-if" capability is essential for developing resilient business strategies in an uncertain tariff environment.

3. Profit Dollar vs. Profit Percentage Strategy

The calculator's unique value lies in helping you explore the strategic difference between maintaining profit dollars versus profit percentages - a critical decision that can dramatically impact your retail pricing and market competitiveness. This strategic insight often reveals pricing approaches that keep products competitive while preserving essential cash flow.

4. Fully Customizable to Your Business

We understand that every business faces unique challenges. Our calculator allows you to:

• Input your specific data, markups and margin expectations
• Customize margin percentages at every level of the supply chain
• Add your own harmonized tariff codes and percentages if they're not included in the presets
• Enter specific country reciprocal tariff percentages you have information about changes or tariff scenarios you wish to explore

Real-World Applications and Strategic Examples

For Brands Facing Tough Sourcing Decisions

With tariffs on Chinese imports now at 30% and possibly 125% and additional duties on goods from Mexico and Canada and other free trade countries the calculator helps you model various scenarios:

• What happens if you maintain current sourcing but adjust pricing?
• How does a mixed sourcing strategy impact your margins?
• What price increases can the market bear before sales volume drops?

The calculator provides a common analytical framework that enables retailers, wholesalers, and brands to independently evaluate pricing strategies - moving beyond simply passing tariff costs through the supply chain.

For Brands and Retailers Managing Price Sensitivity and Elasticity

According to Yale University's Budget Lab analysis (April 2025), apparel prices could rise 65% short-term and remain 25% higher long-term due to these tariffs. Our calculator helps you:

• Find the sweet spot between maintaining margins and staying price-competitive
• Develop strategic pricing that preserves dollar margins rather than percentage margins
• Model different scenarios that impact retail price points
• Create pricing strategies that position you advantageously to maintain sell through

Strategic Example: A retailer maintaining their $15 profit on a product could price at $33.86 (80% markup) versus $37.73 (100% markup) - a $4 difference that could determine market competitiveness. By modeling different scenarios, businesses can find pricing strategies that respect consumer price tolerance while maintaining profitability - avoiding the trap of pricing themselves out of the market.

Enabling Supply Chain Collaboration

The calculator facilitates essential conversations across the entire value chain. Rather than each party independently deciding how to handle tariff increases, the tool enables:

• Transparent discussion of how tariff costs impact each level
• Independent evaluation of pricing strategies with shared understanding of market dynamics
• Strategic planning that considers consumer price sensitivity
• Shared understanding of trade-offs between margin preservation and market competitiveness

Take Control of Your Tariff Strategy Today

In this new high-tariff environment, the difference between struggling and thriving will come down to making informed, strategic decisions. The goal of this scenario planning is to maintain or grow profits without slowing sell-through and avoid the growth of costly inventory surplus - particularly critical with today's higher interest rates.

What often emerges from using the calculator is a deeper understanding of consumer price sensitivity and product price elasticity. While product type and customer demographics certainly impact both factors, the strategic insight comes from understanding the relationship between profit dollars and profit percentages and how different approaches impact retail pricing.

We hope this calculator will help put that power in your hands by enabling the scenario planning and collaborative conversations necessary for success. The key is moving beyond reactive cost-passing to strategic pricing that considers the entire ecosystem - from supplier margins to consumer tolerance. Our calculator provides the framework for these essential discussions.

With tariff decisions being implemented in Q3 2025, now is the critical window to prepare your strategy. For questions regarding the calculator and its use or how it can be tailored to your specific business, contact Jerry Wheeler below.

- Jerry Wheeler