According to a statistical survey commissioned by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in Brazil and conducted by Nexus, the percentage of consumers who have given up shopping on international cross-border websites due to increased import tariffs has risen from 13% to 38%. The survey compared consumer behavior data from May 2024 and October 2025 and was released on October 27.

Marcio Guerra, the economic director of CNI, stated that imposing import tariffs on goods valued at under $50 is beneficial for the local Brazilian industry, as Brazilian companies face unequal tax conditions when competing with products from other countries. He noted, "Imposing import tariffs on low-value cross-border goods is the beginning of bringing more fairness and competitiveness to the local industry. However, the current tax rates are still far from achieving tax fairness."

The survey revealed that the proportion of consumers giving up shopping due to tariffs varied among different groups: those with higher education levels accounted for 51%; individuals aged between 16-24 and 25-40 constituted 46%; those with incomes exceeding five times the minimum wage stood at 45%; and residents in the Northeast region accounted for 42%. With the Brazilian government imposing import taxes on low-value cross-border goods, there has also been an increase in the proportion of Brazilian consumers turning to domestic shopping: the percentage of consumers purchasing similar domestic products increased from 22% to 32%; those looking for similar products in physical stores rose from 13% to 14%; those seeking products on other international websites or applications increased from 6% to 11%; and the percentage of those completely abandoning purchases decreased from 58% to 42%.

ICMS (value-added tax) is also cited as one of the obstacles to low-value cross-border imports. The percentage of consumers abandoning imports due to the cost of value-added tax increased from 32% to 36%. The abandonment rate is higher among those with higher education levels at 48%, individuals in younger age groups at 45%, those with incomes exceeding five times the minimum wage at 41%, and residents in the Northeast region at 41%.

High shipping costs and long delivery times are also major reasons for consumers abandoning cross-border shopping. 45% of consumers abandoned orders due to excessively high shipping costs, up 5 percentage points from May last year; 32% of consumers abandoned orders due to long delivery times, slightly lower than the 34% recorded in May 2024.

The survey also indicated that 75% of respondents stated that the cross-border goods they purchased were primarily for personal use, with 90% in the 60 and above age group. In contrast, only 10% of respondents purchased goods for work purposes, with the highest percentage in the South region at 19%, 15% among those with incomes exceeding five times the minimum wage or aged between 25 and 40, 14% among males, and 12% among those with higher education levels. Only 2% of consumers stated that they purchased goods for resale.