When the Commerce Manager at a mid-market retailer logged into her dashboard one morning, she discovered that dozens of SKUs now required new tariff rates—and there was no clear way to surface those fees to her customers. With no time for a full front-end rewrite, she needed a stopgap that kept shoppers in the checkout flow while remaining fully compliant.
That’s exactly the challenge we’re hearing from more and more businesses this year. As the U.S. adjusts its trade policies through 2025, companies selling across borders must juggle transparency, speed, and accuracy. At UnlockCommerce, we’ve worked alongside several clients—big and small—to deliver tailored solutions that plug right into SuiteCommerce and NetSuite without disrupting existing operations.
Tariff adjustments aren’t just another accounting line. They affect buying decisions, margins, and even brand trust. Imagine this: a buyer adds items to their cart, sees one price, then at the last moment sees unexpected fees stacked on.
When fees sneak up on shoppers at the last moment, cart abandonment spikes—and your support team support tickets surge, and your support team scrambles to respond “Why is my order more expensive?” questions. By proactively displaying tariffs clearly, you build trust. You give customers confidence to complete their purchase—and reduce the friction that kills conversions.
For clients who need a fast, low-cost approach, we’ve built an informational pop-up that appears during checkout. Here’s how it works:
Reference Table Display: At checkout, shoppers see a concise table summarizing applicable tariffs by product category or destination region.
Customer Acknowledgement: Before clicking “Place Order,” buyers confirm they’ve reviewed the fees.
Post-Order Processing: All tariff calculations happen automatically in NetSuite once the order is placed, keeping your website’s pricing logic untouched.
This entry-level solution can go live in days, not weeks. It’s ideal if you’re testing the waters or simply need to avoid last-minute surprises without major development effort.
Some clients prefer to embed tariff costs into the cart subtotal upfront. That level of integration helps eliminate surprises—and lets customers see the final amount before clicking “Pay.” For a seamless experience, we’ve delivered two main configurations:
Under the hood, we use a NetSuite configuration table where teams define exceptions and rules by brand, category, or product type. Want to bundle electronics under one rate but apply a higher fee to luxury imports? That’s all controlled in your ERP—no code changes required once it’s set up. The system automatically picks the right tariff logic at checkout.
Every business is different. For example, an apparel client might choose to absorb tariffs on best-sellers to avoid price shock, while a consumer-goods company might pass fees straight to customers—but only on certain “high-risk” SKUs. By letting teams manage their own rule sets in NetSuite, we give them the flexibility to update rules as policies evolve—quickly iterating while keeping everything transparent.
Tariff schedules may shift again before year-end, and being able to respond quickly is critical. Whether you start with a simple pop-up or dive into a full cart integration, you’ll be set up to:
Test and Learn: Spin new rules on and off as you analyze customer behavior.
Maintain Transparency: Keep buyers informed at every step, reducing support tickets and chargebacks.
Deploy Updates Instantly: When new rates are announced, update your configuration table and push changes live immediately.
By combining SuiteCommerce’s flexibility with NetSuite’s powerful ERP backbone, we help clients stay compliant, keep their customers informed, and avoid surprise costs. If you’re preparing for the next round of tariff shifts—or just want a clearer path through current regulations—drop us a line. We’ll audit your setup, recommend the right approach, and have you up and running without missing a beat.
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