Online prices rose 0.4% year-on-year in August, and a new round of inflation is coming to the United States!

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 August 2022, the price of the US online retail market increased by 0.4% compared with the same period last year and increased by 2.1% compared with July. After deflation in July (a year-on-year decrease of 1% and a month-on-month decrease of 2%), the United States ushered in inflation again in August.

In August, prices increased year-over-year in 12 of the 18 categories tracked by the DPI. Grocery items saw the largest increase. Prices fell in six categories, including electronics, jewelry, books, toys, computers and sporting goods.

In addition, prices increased in 14 of the 18 categories tracked by the DPI compared to July, due to oversupply caused by strong sales during Prime Day, while prices decreased in four categories, including electronics, flowers and related gifts, computers and sporting goods.

Important categories in Adobe Digital Price Index in August

Grocery : Prices continued to soar, up 14.1% year-on-year and 1.1% month-on-month, higher than other categories and a new high in 2022. In July, the price of the grocery category rose 13.4% year-on-year, 12.4% year-on-year in June, and 11.7% year-on-year in May. Although this category has risen for 31 consecutive months, it is still the main purchase category for consumers.

Apparel : After falling for two consecutive months (-1% in July and -0.1% in June), prices rose 4.9% in August (+8.7% month-on-month) due to oversupply at some brands due to the back-to-school season.

Personal care products : Prices rose 2.7% year-over-year and 1.1% month-over-month. This was the highest increase for the category since March 2021. Prices in this category have remained high since September 2020, with only one month (November 2021) when prices fell 0.9% year-over-year. Typically, demand for this category rises in tandem with demand for grocery categories.

Computers : Prices fell 12.6% year-over-year and 2.3% month-over-month. This is the smallest drop in the category since March 2021. The category has fallen for 20 consecutive months, and prices are now 9.2% lower than pre-pandemic levels (2015-2019).

It is learned that American consumers spent a total of $64.6 billion online in August, an increase of 6.5% over the same period last year, but lower than the $73.7 billion in July and a year-on-year increase of 20.9%. The reason is that Prime Day ended and the sales boom subsided. In addition, since 2022, as of August, American consumers have spent a total of $590 billion online, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year. This means that Americans' online consumption demand is elastic.

Editor ✎ Nicole/

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