People have chosen lower-cost items they buy online: report

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Shoppers have been trading down in online purchases.

That was what Adobe Analytics said Thursday in a report that also showed online spending in the fourth-month period spanning January to April hit $331.6 billion in what represented a 7% year-over-year increase.

Its data indicated goods on the lower-cost end in categories like personal care, electronics, apparel, home/garden, furniture/bedding and grocery have been increasingly favored by online shoppers.

Some retail experts and financial lending providers are saying «buy now, pay later» programs are the new layaway. (iStock / iStock)

Adobe said its findings about trade-downs came from it monitoring the «shares of units sold in the most expensive and least expensive quartiles» for prices of big e-commerce categories from January 2019 to April 2024. 

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The personal care category saw a 96% jump in the share of the least-expensive goods, while electronics and apparel posted increases of 64% and 47%, respectively, in theirs, according to the company.

Adobe pegged the share of the cheapest goods for grocery as rising 33%. Meanwhile, there was an increase of 42% in the share of the cheapest goods for both home/garden and furniture/bedding.

There has also been trading down in sporting goods, appliances, home improvement and toys bought online, but to a lesser extent, according to Adobe.

Adobe Analytics says shoppers have been trading down in online purchases. (iStock)

«Months of persistent inflation has led shoppers to embrace cheaper goods across major e-commerce categories,» the company