Adobe Digital Price Index: Online Inflation Remains Elevated at 3.6%
12 April 2022 - 10:00PM
Business Wire
- Apparel prices rising faster online than offline
- Prices for groceries continue to surge, hitting another
record high at 9.0%
- Demand for e-commerce remains strong, despite higher
prices
Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the latest online inflation
data from the Adobe Digital Price Index (DPI). In March 2022,
online prices increased 3.6% year-over-year (YoY) and 0.3%
month-over-month (MoM), matching the record YoY high in February
2022. This marks the 22nd consecutive month of YoY inflation
online. In March, prices for apparel increased 16.3% YoY (up 0.3%
MoM), more than any other category.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220412005516/en/
Price Table (Graphic: Business Wire)
Grocery prices continued to surge and rose 9.0% YoY (up 1.4%
MoM), a new record. Prices for everyday staples including pet
products increased 7.0% YoY (up 1.5% MoM), and personal care items
increased 1.4% YoY (up 0.1% MoM). Despite higher prices and supply
chain challenges that drove 3.1 billion out-of-stock messages in
March, demand for e-commerce remained strong. Consumers spent $83.1
billion (up 7% YoY), a significant increase from $67 billion in
February, as the digital economy continued to shift to more
personalized customer experiences.
The DPI provides the most 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.
“Consumers are feeling a greater hit to their pocketbooks, with
consistently high levels of online inflation in categories such as
groceries and pet products,” said Patrick Brown, vice president of
growth marketing and insights, Adobe. “But while e-commerce prices
have risen more than years past, durable demand shows that
consumers are embracing more personalized experiences in the
digital economy as well as the conveniences of online shopping,
particularly for growing categories like groceries.”
Over the last 12 months, apparel has consistently outpaced the
Consumer Price Index (CPI), which captures prices that consumers
pay for goods offline. In February, apparel prices rose 11.0% in
the DPI, compared to 3.1% in the CPI (indexed to 2014).
Non-prescription drugs followed a similar trend, with the DPI up
7.9% and the CPI down 1.2% in February. For everyday staples like
groceries and pet products, online prices now move in tandem with
the CPI.
In March, 14 of the 18 categories tracked by the DPI saw YoY
price increases, with apparel rising the most. Price drops were
observed in four categories: electronics, jewelry, toys and
computers.
On a MoM basis, 12 of the 18 categories saw March price
increases, with price drops observed in categories including
electronics, books, toys, flowers/related gifts, computers and
sporting goods.
Notable Categories in the Adobe Digital Price Index for
March:
- Apparel: Prices were up 16.3% YoY (up 0.3% MoM), with
the category now seeing a full year of online inflation. In this
time period, apparel prices online also outpaced the CPI. This
reverses the longstanding pattern for the category, where seasonal
discounts created predictable peaks and valleys in online
prices.
- Groceries: Prices were up 9.0% YoY (up 1.4% MoM), the
highest increase for the category on an annual basis. Grocery
prices online have been surging, up from a 7.6% YoY increase in
February and 5.8% YoY increase in January. In May 2021, prices were
up by just 0.4% YoY. March now marks the 26th consecutive month
where online prices have risen for groceries, and it is the only
category to move in lockstep with the CPI on a long-term
basis.
- Pet Products: Online inflation is accelerating for the
category as prices rose 7.0% YoY (up 1.5% MoM). It follows a 5.6%
YoY increase in February and 4.7% YoY increase in January. Prices
for pet products have risen for nearly two years (23 consecutive
months), following the rise in demand as more consumers brought
pets into their homes. During the last holiday season (2021),
online sales for pet products were up by 63% versus pre-season
levels.
- Personal Care Products: Prices were up 1.4% YoY (up 0.1%
MoM), marking the fourth consecutive month of online inflation
after prices decreased 0.9% YoY in November 2021. Prior to the
pandemic (before March 2020), online price increases were unusual
for the category, with only two months seeing YoY online inflation
over 1% (November 2017 up 2.4% YoY and December 2017 up 1.2%
YoY).
- Tools and Home Improvement: Prices were up 8.5% YoY (up
1.1% MoM), the highest increase for the category on an annual
basis. In February, prices were up 7.8% YoY. March also marks the
16th consecutive month of YoY inflation for the category, as
consumers continue to invest in the upkeep and maintenance of their
homes.
Methodology
The DPI is modeled after the Consumer Price Index (CPI),
published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and uses the
Fisher Price Index to track online prices. The Fisher Price Index
uses quantities of matched products purchased in the current period
(month) and a previous period (previous month) to calculate the
price changes by category. Adobe’s analysis is weighted by the real
quantities of the products purchased in the two adjacent
months.
Adobe uses a combination of Adobe Sensei, Adobe’s AI and machine
learning framework, and manual effort to segment the products into
the categories defined by the CPI manual. The methodology was first
developed alongside renowned economists Austan Goolsbee and Pete
Klenow.
About Adobe
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For
more information, visit www.adobe.com.
© 2022 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United
States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220412005516/en/
Kevin Fu Adobe kfu@adobe.com
Bassil Elkadi Adobe belkadi@adobe.com
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Mar 2024
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024