Manufacturing for the grill sector is primarily done is Asia. When tariffs were announced last month, and they applied to all of Asia, it left many brands exposed. While we have heard that price increases are coming from different brands, Traeger is the first major brand to implement them.

I first got word of the price increases from the newsletter that Smoked BBQ Source sends out. They are one of my favorite sites for product reviews and recipes.

Traeger Price Increases

It’s no surprise that Traeger, or any other grill company for that matter, is raising prices. Their cost of goods got more expensive overnight due to tariffs. They had originally strategized to flex their supply chain outside of China to avoid tariffs, but when other Asian countries got hit too, it didn’t leave them many options.

With approximately 50% of our sales driven by goods imported to the US from China, our organization has been analyzing news on trade policy and has been working aggressively on strategies to offset the potential impact of tariffs for some time. Our ongoing mitigation strategies include supply chain efficiencies and savings, negotiations with our contract manufacturers and potential price increases. We are taking a proactive approach to mitigating tariffs, and our strategies will continue to evolve as there is more clarity in this fast-changing environment.

Jeremy Andrus, CEO of Traeger

Likely to deal with the more expensive product costs, Traeger has raised their prices by at least 10% on all their latest gen grills. Below is a chart showing the old price and the new price by model.

Traeger even raised the price of their new Flatrock 2 Zone Griddle. That product was just released a few weeks ago at a lower price.

On a dollar basis, the top end Timberline models had the largest increases. The higher end models have traditionally been less sensitive to price and macroeconomic pressures, but a $500 increase is pretty significant.

Timing

It’s before grilling season really kicks-off, and tariffed shipments of goods are only beginning to arrive on our shores, so Traeger is likely still selling down pre-tariff inventory. They also mentioned on their previous earnings call that they were increasing inventory in anticipation of the tariffs.

I mean what I would say is in Q1 we’ve been focused on bringing in as much inventory as possible ahead of anticipatory tariffs.

Dom Blosil, CFO of Traeger

They could have waited to increase prices, but I think the timing makes sense for a few reasons. The first is the consumer is anticipating price increases, if you make them early, you can enjoy higher margin while you work down old inventory to lessen the hit later.

With it being before the grill buying season gets in full swing, it will also be less noticeable to the consumer. They haven’t started making their buying decision, so they won’t see the increase beyond maybe that it’s more expensive than last year.

Another reason is they are reporting earnings next Thursday, and it’s all but guaranteed that they’ll be asked about tariffs. It makes a better story to the investment community that they’ve already responded to the tariffs rather than saying that they’re going to respond by raising prices.

On the other hand, the main downside of raising prices before other companies is it could make them less competitive. A pressured consumer may look to a brand that’s cheaper, which could depress Traeger’s sales in the most important months of the year.

That is mitigated some by the strength of their brand though. Consumers have traditionally willing to pay up to get a Traeger. We’ll see in the coming months if it’s enough to overcome the price increases.