Entrepreneur Ramon van Meer tested whether Americans would buy his specialty shower head made in the USA. He found it too expensive and had only zero customers purchase the model, despite a 85% price hike. Van Meer says he’s used to hearing people say they’d pay more for products made in America but was surprised by the results. After finding US suppliers, production costs tripled, making the product uncompetitive.
Van Meer set up a test on his website with two identical products: one made in China ($129) and the other made in the USA ($239). Over 25,000 visitors tried to buy, but only 584 lower-priced shower heads were sold. The US-made version had an add-to-cart rate less than 1%. Van Meer now focuses on shifting production out of China to a country with lower tariffs, as staying in China is unsustainable due to the high tariffs and lack of facilities in the USA.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/afina-shower-head-founder-tests-paying-more-american-made-2025-5