Page 12 - aruba-today-20221124

A12 BUSINESS
Thursday 24 November 2022

Shoppers hunt for deals but inflation

makes bargains elusive

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
and CORA LEWIS
AP Business Writers
NEW YORK (AP) — Con-
sumers holding out for big
deals and some much-
needed relief from soaring
costs on just about every-
thing may be disappoint-
ed as they head into the
busiest shopping season of
the year.
While retailers are advertis-
ing sales of 30%, 50% and
70% off everything from TVs
to gadgets, many items
will still cost more than they Shoppers looking for bargains enter an OshKosh children
did last year because of clothing store, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, in Miami, Fla.
inflation and finding a true Associated Press
bargain may prove to be a
challenge.
From September through take advantage of it.” ed Americans have also
October, shoppers paid William Wang, 24, who slowed their spending in
roughly 18% more for furni- teaches high school math, the past few weeks.
ture and appliances than says he’s more likely to no- It’s a dramatic change
they did a year ago, ac- tice price increases on ev- from last year’s holiday pe-
cording to a recent major eryday items like his que- riod when shoppers began
data analysis by analytics sadilla that now costs $8 at their holiday items as early
company DataWeave, his local deli than for gifts as October for fear they
which tracks prices for hun- he’s going to spend mon- wouldn’t get what they
dreds of thousands of items ey on once a year. needed amid pandemic-
across roughly three dozen “I do feel like everything’s infused clogs in the supply
retailers including Amazon more expensive,” said the chain.
and Target. For toys, they Brooklyn, New York, resi- They were also flush with
paid roughly 2% more. dent. “But I mainly keep cash from government
Things looked a bit better track of it with small items, stimulus money. Retailers
for consumers shopping like food.” were struggling to bring in
for clothing they paid The latest government re- items so they didn’t need
nearly 5% less compared tail sales report shows retail to discount as much.
with last fall, according to sales rose last month even Michael Liersch, head of
DataWeave. Meanwhile, when adjusting for infla- advice and planning at
prices held steady for foot- tion. Wells Fargo, said this holi-
wear. That underscores some re- day shopping season, it’s
“It’s just a weird time for siliency among shoppers more likely that things will
everybody to figure out heading into the Black Fri- “appear discounted or
what is the right price, and day weekend, the kickoff feel discounted, or it will
what is the real price,” said to the season. seem like there are big of-
Nikki Baird, vice president But cracks are forming. fers” but that between in-
of strategy of Aptos, a re- Third-quarter earnings re- flation and “shrinkflation”
tail technology firm. “Con- sults from major retailers when manufacturers qui-
sumers are really bad at show shoppers aren’t will- etly shrink package sizes
discount math, and retail- ing to pay full price and without lowering the price
ers are fully aware of it and waiting for deals. Kohl’s, it’s often not the case.
do everything they can to Target and Macy’s all not- That trend played out in a
recent spot check by Da-
taWeave of different items.
For example, a Cuisinart
two-speed blender, listed
at $59.99 but discounted
at 25%, was available for
$44.99 at grocery chain
Fred Meyer.
But it was still more expen-
sive than last year’s blend-
er, available for $39.99,
after a 20% discount off a
lower list price of $49.99.q