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If you’venoticed a big jump in gas prices, as well as higher prices on food and clothing, you’re not alone.
Overall, the Consumer Price Index, which compiles prices for a wide array of goods and services, recently announced that over the past 12 months prices rose 6.2 percent,according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the biggest annual increasein 31 years, since December 1990.
The reason behind all this is due to what is called inflation, which means “basically the increase in the prices of goods and services and a decrease in the purchasing power of your money,“Sylvia Kwan, chief investment officer atEllevest, tells PEOPLE.
“What you can buy for $10 today buys less over time,” she says. “You can also think of it as prices of goods and services going up faster than wages.”
Other itemsthat also saw jumps include new cars (up 9.8 %), food (up 5.3 %), apparel (up 4.3 %) and housing (up 3.5 %).
With the year’s biggest shopping days upon us, what does this mean forBlack Friday deals— which many retailers began offering early?
In some ways it can actually benefit consumers, according to MarketWatch. “It’s even more important for retailers to offer deals this year because of inflation, which can cause consumers to be scrappier about how they shop,” Diana Smith, a retail analyst at Mintel,told MarketWatch.
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Yet discounts may not be as steep as in prior years.
“My guess is you’re seeing 5 to 10 percentage points less discounting going on in the environment,” Steve Sadove, Mastercard senior adviser and former Saks chairman and CEO,told Yahoo Finance.
“You’re seeing a lot of key items selling early,” he told the outlet. “People are getting out there and getting the items quickly because they know that they’re going to be running out of stock.”
And discounts on items can be fleeting, Kristin McGrath, editor of The Real Deal at RetailMeNot, told MarketWatch, noting that “what’s likely going to happen is that these discounts will be offered on a low supply.”
“There is pent-up demand from everybody being locked up,” she said. “And now there’s this pent-up consumer demand for things.”
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Consumers are expected to flock to the internet and brick-and-mortar stores for Black Friday shopping, according toThe National Retail Federation. It predicts “nearly 2 million more people than last year are expected to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday,” with 66% of those surveyed planning to shop this weekend.
For those shopping during the weekend, 58 percent said deals that are “too good to pass up” remain the top reason.
“We’re expecting another record-breaking holiday season this year and Thanksgiving weekend will play a major role as it always has,” Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF,said in a release.
“It just may take longer for it to start subsiding,” she says. “But it is It is transitory.”
source: people.com
