Inflation Drops as Online Shopping Continues to Rise
Last week this blog series brought news from one of my newest interest Adobe’s Digital Price Index. In this episode, it’s part II of our online shopping and inflation 2022 report. There’s still time to read Online Shopping and Inflation Part I. That Forbes article “Inflation Cost Online Shoppers $2.8 Billion In March, Adobe Reports” got plenty of clicks, including ours. Now, there’s good news, Adobe’s current analysis shows that online inflation is slowing.
Specifically, the June 2022 report cites online prices went up 0.3% year-over-year (YoY). However, prices are decreasing 1% month-over-month (MoM). Alas, this is the 25th month of online inflation YoY, but June is the third month that online price increases have reduced. So there you have it, just in time for the holiday stretch. Let’s hope the trend continues and online spending sees another record high for the year end.
Possible Trends from the Adobe Digital Economy Index
The latest report, released July 12, 2022, shines a light on two categories. First, pet products which are up 11.35% YoY and over 2% MoM. As with the economy, online inflation for pet products remains the same for 26 consecutive months. The pet population continues to grow and there’s research to prove the pandemic era had an affect. Shipping pet products is big business and perfect for fulfillment companies to handle.
The next category that looks impressive is tools and home improvement. People are staying home more and doing more home projects than in pre-pandemic years. Prices for tools and home improvement items were up 10.44% YoY. Attention, that’s the highest increase for the category on an annual basis. Like pet products the inflation data is on a roll. It’s the 19th consecutive month of YoY inflation for tools and home improvement.
Online Sales and E-commerce Growing
Despite the now unavoidable conversation around inflation, the Adobe Digital Economy Index confirms the most notable metric. Last month, June, 2022, $74.1 billion was spent online. Year to date consumers have spent over $451.7 billion spent online, up 7.5% year-over-year.
Remember, for my money and time, Adobe’s Digital Price Index is the most comprehensive look into consumer online spending. Keep an eye out for new categories and as brands that are health centric. Think of the peripheral markets, like pet products. Make the digital economy personal and remember, the more you learn the more you earn!