Adobe released data on Thursday showing online prices increased 2% in May year-over-year. That compares to April’s 2.9% increase and March’s record 3.6% increase. But Adobe found significant differences category by category.
Online prices for groceries have not eased, rising 11.7% in May year-over-year (and up 1.3% month-over-month). That follows a 10.3% YoY increase in April, a 9% YoY increase in March and a 7.6% YoY increase in February.
Adobe said the May rise was a record year-over-year high for the grocery category, and the first month where prices for groceries had risen the most of any category, overtaking apparel.
“Groceries remains the only category to move in lockstep with the CPI on a long-term basis, with online prices rising now for 28 consecutive months,” Adobe found. (The Consumer Price Index, or CPI, is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
Note that year-over-year (YoY) is a way to look at data taking into account seasonal differences in growth rates, but month-over-month (MoM) data is helpful as well.
Adobe said that while May data marks two full years of inflation online YoY, May is also the second month where online price increases have slowed.
For the month of May, 12 of the 18 categories tracked by the Adobe Digital Price Index saw YoY price increases, with groceries rising the most. Price drops were observed in six categories: electronics, jewelry, books, toys, computers and sporting goods.
Some category data that stands out besides grocery:
- Prices for electronics and apparel, major categories that made up 33% of ecommerce spend in 2021, have continued to draw down.
- Electronics prices were down 6.5% YoY (down 1.4% MoM), a greater decrease than April (down 5.2% YoY), and a record YoY low for the category over the last 24 months.
- Prices for Apparel were up 9% YoY (down 1.5% MoM). While the category has now seen 14 months of online inflation, reversing a predictable pattern of heavy discounting periods, there are continued signs that prices are beginning to ease; prices increased 12.3% YoY in April, 16.3% YoY in March and 16.7% YoY in February.
- Toys were down 6.5% YoY (down 1.3% MoM), a record low for the category over the last 24 months.
The Adobe Digital Price Index provides a comprehensive view into how much consumers pay for goods online. “Powered by Adobe Analytics, it analyzes one trillion visits to retail sites and over 100 million SKUs 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 drug and office supplies.”
You can find the full announcement along with tables highlighting the data on the Adobe website.
“Online prices for groceries have not eased, rising 11.7% in May year-over-year (and up 1.3% month-over-month). That follows a 10.3% YoY increase in April, a 9% YoY increase in March and a 7.6% YoY increase in February.”
To fight food inflation requires getting creative.
First, I’ve reduced the number of “chewing meals”.
That means more stuff made in the blender. Makes it go further. And you can cut stuff with water or milk.
Focus on nutrition.
Buy powdered vitamins to add, or just have the chewy vitamins.
Don’t eat more than a fist – sized portion every 4 – 6 hours.
Eggs expire so consider the half dozen package.
Don’t bake cakes, cookies or other junk. Electric costs.
Go low sodium. Make your own soups….not much broth….tons of vegetables and herbs.
Deli meats and canned soups will kill you. Way too much salt.
Wheat will kill you. Between the canned soups, wheat, and deli meats, your kidneys are under load.
Stop eating these and the swelling goes away.
Eat rye, oats, and brown rice.
Use chopped up ham steaks in things instead of bacon.
Look at your own diet and figure where to make conserving changes.
No alcohol whatsoever, no tobacco. Right now it costs $1,650 to fill a 275 gallon heating fuel tank.
So, don’t hand your money off to stuff that won’t prolong life.
This is a war. Humility can get you through. This will last for at least 2 more years……
*** Inflation has been with us for years ***
U.S. economists have been telling us for many years that inflation has been under control, however, that is a bunch of bull. For years, consumers have been struggling with higher housing costs, increased taxes and high medical costs, yet, those numbers have never made it into the “inflation data”. I heard an economist say pretty much the same the other day…especially with housing…he said that the “real” inflation numbers are much higher when adding increases in rent/mortgages, which puts us into double digit inflation.
But now that inflation has hit food and energy, the sky is now falling, however, the sky has been falling for many consumers for MANY years.
And what hasn’t been tabulated all these years is the quality of products for what we pay. Instead of paying more for a decent cotton teeshirt, manufacturers use thinner cotton and charge the same price, when in reality, the quality of the product has “decreased”…so we get less for our money.
I sell fishing gear and my sales have tanked, no way to increase prices when nothing is selling. And this is my busiest time of the year, I make 60% of my income for the year from May to Sept.