In July, e-commerce prices were up by 3.3 per cent year-on-year, according to new figures from Adobe.

However prices were down 0.7 per cent month-on-month. But the multinational software business said that because of greater volatility in prices online versus offline currently, monthly changes are expected to be more dynamic.

In the previous month, online prices were up 2.3 percent year-on-year and 0.6 percent month-on-month.

The company said that 2015 to 2019 was a historical benchmark for current figures, when online prices fell 3.9 per cent on average each year.

“With online shopping becoming more ubiquitous, and consumers getting more accustomed to ordering everyday staples through e-commerce, we expect online inflation will continue to rise and be in closer sync with offline prices,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “As the digital economy expands, online pricing trends will have greater impact on how we measure and understand inflation overall.”

Pandya added: “Consider that in just the first seven months of 2021, consumers have already spent over $481 billion dollars online, a staggering 61 percent increase over the same period in 2019.”

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