The online prices of goods in the United States fell in December, according to data collected by Adobe Inc. as holiday discounting drove prices down on an annual basis.
Online prices decreased 1.6% year-over-year, marking a fourth consecutive decline. Half of the 18 categories tracked experienced falling prices, especially in computers, appliances and toys that saw deep holiday discounting. Adobe did not adjust the data for inflation.
That helped generate $95.1 billion for ecommerce in December, Adobe said.
“Stronger consumer spending was clearly driven by net-new demand, not simply higher prices,” according to the report.
Price growth slowed on an annual basis for non-promotional categories such as groceries and personal care. However, they were still up from December 2021. Year-over-year prices also rose for office supplies, pet products and apparel.
On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.1%. Two-thirds of the categories tracked categories saw prices increase, including appliances and electronics.
Adobe’s Digital Price Index provides a view into how much consumers pay for goods online by analyzing 1 trillion visits to retail sites and over 100 million goods. The index was developed for Adobe in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s new president Austan Goolsbee, who took office Jan. 9.
The data precedes Thursday’s release of the December consumer price index. The CPI is forecast to show a further moderation in inflation.
Online prices decreased 1.9% in November
The 1.9% year-over-year decrease in November reflects the largest decrease in prices in the past 2.5 years, according to data from the Adobe Digital Price Index.
Discounts during the Cyber 5 period of Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday helped drive the lower online prices, according to Adobe Analytics. Specifically, online toy prices decreased 7.7% year over year and 4.2% month over month. Online prices in the sporting goods category decreased 5.7% year over year and 4.3% month over month.
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