Economy
12 July 2022
Online inflation cools in June
But grocery prices were up 12%, says the Adobe Digital Price Index.
Digital inflation for groceries since 2015. (Courtesy of Adobe)
Ecommerce is delivering some relief from rising prices across the consumer economy, new monthly data shows.
Online inflation continued to cool off in June, according to the Adobe Digital Price Index.
The latest reading from Adobe Analytics states that online prices were up .3% year-over-year for the month. On a month-over-month basis, prices were down 1%.
These numbers come a day ahead of the economy’s overall inflation reading from the US Census Bureau’s Consumer Price Index. Last month, that measure showed a 40-year-high increase of 8.6% year-over-year. This led the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates .75% in an effort to cool demand.
When it comes to ecommerce, the latest Digital Price Index data shows some moderating. Decreases were visible in key categories tracked by Adobe Analytics:
- Apparel prices fell .1% year-over-year, and 4.06% month-over-month. This comes after prices in this category increased year-over-year in May.
- Electronics prices recorded their largest year-over-year decrease since May 2020, falling 7.28%. There was some relief on a month-over-month basis, however, as prices fell 1.34% month-over-month.
- Toys saw a year-over-year decrease of 4.81%, with a slight month-over-month uptick of .16%.
Digital inflation since 2015. (Courtesy of Adobe Analytics)
At a time of rising inflation, the report also featured plenty of spikes. In all, 11 of the 18 categories tracked by Adobe saw prices go up. Some of the most popular ecommerce categories set new inflation records:
- Grocery prices were up 12.44% year-over-year, setting a new record. It’s the fifth straight month of significant price increases in this category, and the 29th straight month overall of rising prices. This mirrors rising costs of food in the wider economy. It was up .7% month-over-month.
- Pet products saw prices rise 11.35% year-over-year, which was the latest in a series of annual record highs in this category. Month-over-month, prices in this category rose 2.01%.
- Tools and home improvement rose 10.44% year-over-year, which also drove this category to a record annual increase. It was the 19th straight month that prices went up on a year-over-year basis. Prices were up .6% year-over-year in this category.
(Chart via Adobe Analytics)
Adobe Analytics also provided key data on spending for the year so far:
- In all, consumers spent $451.7 billion online, with the six-month total growing 7.5% year-over-year.
- For June consumers spent $74.1 billion online, which is roughly 1% year-over-year growth.
- Spending for the month was down when compared to May ($77.8 billion) and April. and May ($78.8 billion).
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