Unable to consume, cutting spending? Prices of ten categories dropped significantly in the US market

At present, under the macroeconomic environment of overall economic downturn, real crises such as high inflation , high costs, and high return rates have caused major e-commerce groups to issue profit warnings since the beginning of this year.

Amid various crises, the European and American e-commerce markets, which have always been flocked to by sellers, are now in a slump.

According to a survey by Numerator , the continued high inflation situation has tightened Americans' wallets , and many American consumers said they will cut spending in the coming months .

The survey showed that 95% of respondents said they started to stock up on discounted goods ( 51%) and look for coupons and promotions ( 50%) . 66% of respondents said they would cut back on non-essential spending , including clothing ( 54%) and travel (42% ) .

40% of respondents said that inflation has made their financial situation worse. The financial situation of Generation Z is even more severe than that of Millennials and Generation X. In a survey in May , only 35.5 % of Generation Z consumers said their financial situation was " good " , 14% lower than Millennials and Generation X, and 17% lower than Baby Boomers.

In addition, according to a survey by online coupon group buying website RetailMeNot , 61% of respondents said they would spend less this summer .

Various data show that high inflation has reduced the current consumption quality and consumption desire of Americans. At the same time, online retailers are also facing more challenges , such as how to deal with stockpiled goods.

According to a survey by the Confederation of British Industry ( CBI ) , sales in the UK retail market, especially online retail, fell in June , and they expect the trend to continue into July.

To solve the problem of excess inventory, many retailers have launched a discount war, while British and American consumers are also more concerned about discounted goods in order to reduce spending .

Compared with April, prices fell in 10 categories in the United States in May , including electronics, personal care, jewelry, books, toys, home and garden , appliances, computers, sporting goods and apparel . Prices rose in eight categories, with groceries seeing the largest increase.

The price growth of clothing category decreased by 1.5% compared with April . The price of this category increased by 12.3% in April, 16.3% in March and 16.7% in February . From this trend, we can see that the price growth rate of this category is shrinking month by month, but this also means that the profit margin of related sellers is shrinking.

In addition, the price of toys fell by 6.5% year-on-year and 1.3% month-on-month, which was the lowest drop in the category since December 2019 (a year-on-year drop of 10%).

Despite the reduction in spending, U.S. consumers spent a total of $78.8 billion online in May, up 7.1% from April , but still lower than the $83.1 billion in March. The latest data shows that Americans ' online spending in 2022 has reached $377.6 billion, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year.

The industry is sluggish and consumption is downgrading, so sellers must be mentally prepared to survive this cold winter.

USA

Price reduction