U.S. inflation cools more than expected, online item prices fall for 6 consecutive months

It is learned that Adobe recently released the latest inflation data for the US online retail market. According to the Adobe Digital Price Index (DPI), in February 2023, prices in the US online retail market fell 1.4% from the same period last year and 0.3% from the previous month. US online prices have fallen year-on-year for the sixth consecutive month, with prices in more than half of the 18 categories falling.

The year-over-year price decline in February was mainly due to large declines in discretionary categories, including electronics, computers and toys. Prices of appliances and home/garden supplies also fell 3.8%. The furniture/bedding category fell for the first time after 33 consecutive months of increases, down 0.1% year-over-year.

In some categories that have been experiencing persistent inflation, month-over-month price increases have slowed in recent months, including food and groceries, clothing, and tools/home improvement.

In February, 10 of the 18 categories tracked by the DPI saw month-over-month price declines. Flowers/related gifts saw the largest drop, at 25%. Eight categories saw year-over-year price increases, including personal care, office supplies, pet products, groceries, over-the-counter drugs, tools/home improvement, medical equipment/supplies, and apparel.

On a month-over-month basis, prices fell in six of the 18 categories tracked by the DPI. Conversely, prices rose in 12 categories, including personal care, office supplies, books, home/garden, pet products, groceries, over-the-counter drugs, tools/home improvement, flowers/related gifts, sporting goods, medical equipment/supplies, and apparel.

Categories to watch in February 2023:

Grocery: Prices rose 11.4% year-on-year and 0.8% month-on-month, and inflation has slowed down. Prices in this category have been falling over the past five months. Year-on-year growth was 12.6% in January, 13.5% in December, 13.7% in November, and 14.0% in October. Prices in this category peaked in September, with year-on-year growth of 14.3%.

Furniture/Bedding: Prices fell 0.1% year-over-year and 0.6% month-over-month after rising for 33 consecutive months, peaking in March 2021 with a year-over-year increase of 5.7%. In February 2022, prices in this category rose 4.7% year-over-year. After the pandemic, people became keen to decorate their living spaces, leading to more and more consumers buying furniture online.

Electronics: Prices have fallen sharply in recent months, down 12.6% year-over-year in February and down 1.7% month-over-month. Prices fell 11.9% year-over-year in January. This contrasts with February 2022, a year ago, when prices fell 3.2% year-over-year. As a major discretionary category, electronics prices continue to fall sharply, even after the holiday shopping season. In December, prices in the category fell 12.0% year-over-year, and in November, prices fell 13.4% year-over-year.

Clothing: Prices rose 5.1% year-on-year and 0.3% month-on-month. Price growth in this category has slowed in recent months (5.1% year-on-year in January, 0.9% year-on-year in December, and 3.2% year-on-year in November).

Research from Adobe, in partnership with The Weather Company, an IBM business unit, found that severe weather events (rain, snow and wind) that forced people to shop online increased U.S. e-commerce sales by $13 billion last year, a figure that was more than the entire Cyber ​​Monday spend.

Editor ✎ Nicole/

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