Dive Brief:
- Signaling the eleventh consecutive month of price decline, Adobe’s Digital Price Index found that online prices in July dipped by 1.6% year over year. Prices also slid 0.9% month over month.
- Of the 11 categories that saw year over year price drops, flowers and related gifts fell the most at 31.6%. Appliances were down 8% and electronics prices declined 11.7%, according to Adobe Analytics.
- By contrast, groceries and pet product prices both rose 6.3% from July 2022, the report found.
Dive Insight:
Even though grocery prices have risen year over year, they have slowed in the past 10 months.
“Consumers are increasingly buying more of their groceries online, and this category has generally moved in lock step with the Consumer Price Index,” the report stated.
A Morning Consult report released in April found that online grocery shopping habits vary by where people work. Remote workers are 25% more likely to buy their groceries online at least once per week compared to office workers. That proportion jumps to 31% for hybrid workers.
In its June report, the Adobe Digital Price Index found that online prices dipped by 2.3% year over year — the greatest drop since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Adobe’s previous analysis, the flowers and gifts and electronics categories have been declining over time.
As online prices fall compared to last year, sales are on the rise overall as inflation’s cooldown frees up money for consumers. According to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, retail sales in June rose nearly 5%, with non-store sales up 10%.
