Last week’s Wall Street Journal report found that prices for Amazon’s low-cost essentials have risen since President Trump announced plans for massive tariffs on international goods. Amazon responded with a lengthy blog post in response to an article describing the WSJ report as “fundamentally flawed.”
The WSJ analyzed the prices of 2,500 common Amazon items, including cough suppressants, antibacterial wipes and chicken soup, and determined that the prices of these items had risen by an average of 5% since Trump’s inauguration ceremony from January 20th to July 1st.
Amazon accused WSJ of “cherry picking” data, ignoring other factors surrounding the cost of certain products. According to Amazon, some of the WSJ’s findings were inaccurate as items such as WSJ deodorizers and packs of yogi tea bags obtained their first pricing data in January. Amazon says the price increases for these items came from the end of the promotion, not inflation or tariffs.
For such analyses, random sampling between products makes sense, as Amazon pricing is often dynamic and leads to fluctuations. The feeling that Amazon must respond to this report suggests that the company is topic sensitive and may even fear retaliation from the Trump administration.
Aside from Amazon’s costs, customers may observe a slight increase in the costs of popular items. Consumer prices rose 0.3% that month, or 2.7% per year, according to a June report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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