{"id":2044381,"date":"2025-09-23T19:01:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T19:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2044381"},"modified":"2025-09-23T19:01:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T19:01:34","slug":"uncertainty-around-tariffs-may-cause-fenders-operating-performance-to-deteriorate-more-than-we-expect-fender-has-been-forced-to-increase-its-prices-to-weather-the-tariff-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/uncertainty-around-tariffs-may-cause-fenders-operating-performance-to-deteriorate-more-than-we-expect-fender-has-been-forced-to-increase-its-prices-to-weather-the-tariff-st\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cUncertainty around tariffs may cause Fender\u2019s operating performance to deteriorate more than we expect\u201d: Fender has been forced to increase its prices to weather the tariff storm, according to new report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p id=\"f933fd3f-17d9-403f-9ab6-996cde19b978\">Earlier this year, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/music-industry\/fender-credit-rating-downgraded\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/music-industry\/fender-credit-rating-downgraded\">Fender&#8217;s credit rating was downgraded by credit rating analyst Moody&#8217;s<\/a>, citing tariffs and increased financial pressures as key factors in its projection.<\/p>\n<p>Now, according to financial information and analytics expert <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/ratings\/en\/regulatory\/article\/-\/view\/type\/HTML\/id\/3444237\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/ratings\/en\/regulatory\/article\/-\/view\/type\/HTML\/id\/3444237\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"><em>S&amp;P Global<\/em><\/a>, Fender increased prices throughout the first half of the year in an effort \u201cto offset higher costs from tariffs, especially from China, which makes up 40% of purchases (half of which enter the U.S.).\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" id=\"elk-seasonal\" href=\"\" data-url=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-base\"\/>\n<p id=\"f933fd3f-17d9-403f-9ab6-996cde19b978-2\">According to the report, Fender implemented a 5% price increase across its entire portfolio in an effort to weather the storm that has erupted following U.S. tariffs and broader global economic uncertainties.<\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pt-3 pb-4 mb-4 border-solid border-y border-neutral-300\">\n<span class=\"font-article-heading block pb-3 !text-base font-bold uppercase sm:text-sm text-[#333]\"><br \/>\nYou may like<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The <em>S&amp;P Global<\/em> report also notes that the sell-in (the sales from manufacturers to distributors) has exceeded expectations for retail partners such as Sweetwater, Guitar Center and Amazon, with higher-income consumers continuing to value the prestige of the Fender brand.<\/p>\n<p>However, it adds: \u201cVolumes continue to decline due to lower consumer discretionary spending, which we expect will continue throughout the remainder of the year.\u201d <em>S&amp;P Global<\/em> uses the example of smaller, locally owned U.S. dealers to illustrate this point, as such dealers continue to tightly manage their inventory amid a \u201cweaker macroeconomic environment,\u201d while consumers turn to the second-hand market or avoid discretionary spending altogether.<\/p>\n<p>In relation to Fender&#8217;s 5% price rise, <em>S&amp;P Global<\/em> insists that the firm&#8217;s approach to tackling such economic uncertainty has had some degree of success, proving to be more effective than some of Fender&#8217;s closest competitors.<\/p>\n<p>It continues, \u201cFender\u2019s tariff mitigation strategy is proving more effective than competitors that have avoided price hikes and paused imports from China.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-bfR8aaLnxmrnudcSsEGuBU\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-bfR8aaLnxmrnudcSsEGuBU slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For its forecast of Fender&#8217;s immediate and short-term future, <em>S&amp;P Global <\/em>reflects, \u201cIn 2026, we expect improving volume trends from new innovations, though we continue to expect subdued consumer sentiment resulting in minimal revenue growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe expect dealers will remain cautious on increasing inventory levels because of a weak macroeconomic backdrop with lower discretionary spending on big-ticket items like guitars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoreover, since Fender depends on favorable holiday performance, [its] risk volume declines are greater than expected, potentially due to weakening consumer sentiment or greater competition from the secondhand market.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pt-3 pb-4 mb-4 border-solid border-y border-neutral-300\">\n<span class=\"font-article-heading block pb-3 !text-base font-bold uppercase sm:text-sm text-[#333]\"><br \/>\nYou may like<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check=\"\" id=\"ddc6ef68-e43e-4b50-b232-7b6827158d43\">\n<div class=\"image-full-width-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-widthsetter\" style=\"max-width:1200px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"> <picture data-new-v2-image=\"true\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/QfWpuWMUn9bgYqCEHRNRuL-1200-80.jpg.webp 1200w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/QfWpuWMUn9bgYqCEHRNRuL-1024-80.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/QfWpuWMUn9bgYqCEHRNRuL-970-80.jpg.webp 970w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/QfWpuWMUn9bgYqCEHRNRuL-650-80.jpg.webp 650w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/QfWpuWMUn9bgYqCEHRNRuL-480-80.jpg.webp 480w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/QfWpuWMUn9bgYqCEHRNRuL-320-80.jpg.webp 320w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw - 40px)\"\/>\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Neil Godwin\/Total Guitar Magazine\/Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"677656e1-1d48-4060-b179-c559e1e6ffe5\">The report concludes with an expected \u201cnegative outlook\u201d for the guitar brand, citing \u201cweaker consumer discretionary spending and some lingering uncertainty around tariffs, which may cause Fender\u2019s operating performance and liquidity over the next 12 months to deteriorate more than we expect\u201d in its assessment.<\/p>\n<p>These findings align with current trends in the musical instrument market. According to a<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.piie.com\/blogs\/realtime-economics\/2025\/tariffs-and-economic-uncertainty-are-hitting-us-musical-instrument\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.piie.com\/blogs\/realtime-economics\/2025\/tariffs-and-economic-uncertainty-are-hitting-us-musical-instrument\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"> recent study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics<\/a>, from January to July 2025, \u201cU.S. exports of musical instruments were 8.4 percent lower than the average over the same months in 2021\u201324,\u201d in particular in markets such as Brazil, Canada, and China.<\/p>\n<p>This study emphasizes that this downturn is not primarily the result of retaliatory tariffs \u2013 at least so far. However, a mix of \u201cfactors linked to tariffs and broader trade policy uncertainty,\u201d increased cost to consumers and decreased demand for leisure goods, and, in cases, \u201cconscious substitution away from U.S. products\u201d has eroded the demand for U.S. musical instrument exports.<\/p>\n<p>In May, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/namm\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/namm\">NAMM<\/a> CEO John Mlynczak gave <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/gear\/namm-ceo-john-mlynczak-on-the-impact-of-trumps-tariffs-in-the-guitar-industry\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/gear\/namm-ceo-john-mlynczak-on-the-impact-of-trumps-tariffs-in-the-guitar-industry\"><em>Guitar World<\/em><\/a> an overview of the challenges the American musical instrument market is facing amid the current trade war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.guitarworld.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year, Fender&#8217;s credit rating was downgraded by credit rating analyst Moody&#8217;s, citing tariffs and increased financial pressures as key factors in its projection. Now, according to financial information and analytics expert S&amp;P Global, Fender increased prices throughout the first half of the year in an effort \u201cto offset higher costs from tariffs, especially [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2044382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2044381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Uncertainty-around-tariffs-may-cause-Fenders-operating-performance-to-deteriorate.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2044381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2044382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2044381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2044381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}