Adobe Reports Online Price Declines, Slowing Inflation
There’s good news for online shoppers: prices continue to drop on a wide range of products and categories.
Consumers can also take some comfort knowing that where prices are still rising, the rate of inflation is slowing.
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That’s all according to software giant Adobe, which on Tuesday reported that overall online prices last month dropped 1.6 percent compared with July 2022, and dropped 0.9 percent from June 2023. July marked the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year decreases, with 11 of the 18 categories tracked by Adobe seeing falling prices on an annual basis. On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to issue its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI).
On a month-over-month basis, 16 of the 18 categories tracked saw prices fall. Price increases were observed in just groceries and non-prescription drugs.
Price drops in July were biggest in appliances, furniture/bedding, flowers and electronics.
Appliance prices fell 8 percent year-over-year and 0.3 percent month-over-month. Furniture/bedding fell 3.5 percent year-over-year, and 0.7 percent month-over-month.
Prices in electronics fell 11.7 percent year-over-year and 0.7 percent month-over-month. Computer prices fell 15.4 percent year-over-year and 1.5 percent month-over-month, and flowers and related gifts dropped 31.6 percent year-over-year.
Consumers have been hurt the most by rising grocery prices but, according to Adobe, the increases there have slowed for 10 consecutive months. Grocery prices in July were up 6.3 percent year-over-year and 0.3 percent month-over-month. That compares with the 7.6 percent year-over-year increase seen last June, and the 8.2 percent year-over-year increase seen last May.
Aside from groceries, price increases have also slowed for pet products. Prices were up 6.3 percent year-over-year last month and down 0.1 percent month-over-month, compared with an 8.1 percent year-over-year increase in June, and a 10.2 percent year-over-year increase last May.
Apparel prices rose 11.89 percent in July, year-over-year, but were down 2.1 percent month-over-month. Retailers have generally done a good job cutting inventories to be more in line with softening demand this year, reducing the need to do as much discounting.
Personal care, non-prescription drugs, tools/home improvement, and medical equipment/supplies also saw price increases.
According to an InMarket survey of 600 adults conducted May 26 to June 21 on back-to-school shopping, “Price remains the most important factor for back-to-school shoppers and 87 percent of respondents said inflation has impacted how much they plan to spend on b-t-s shopping this year. Thirty-five percent of the respondents cited price as the most important factor in buying; 19 percent cited coupons, sales, promotions and rebates as most important. Fifteen percent cited sweepstakes; 14 percent cited loyalty programs, and 10 percent brand names as the most important factors.”
InMarket is a consumer intelligence and advertising firm. In other InMarket findings, 53 percent of respondents plan to look for alternative, less expensive products, and the majority of b-t-s shoppers plan to head to stores, with big-box chains and department stores being top destinations.
Adobe’s findings come through the company’s Digital Price Index, powered by Adobe Analytics. Adobe analyzes one trillion visits to retail sites and more than 100 million stock keeping units across 18 product categories: electronics, apparel, appliances, books, toys, computers, groceries, furniture/bedding, tools/home improvement, home/garden, pet products, jewelry, medical equipment/supplies, sporting goods, personal care products, flowers/related gifts, non-prescription drugs and office supplies. Adobe’s DPI is modeled after the Consumer Price Index published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and uses the Fisher Price Index to track online prices.
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