Giant retailers Walmart, Target, and Amazon have been raising their prices as they try to mitigate the cost of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
Prices at Amazon rose 12.8% this year as of the end of September, according to an analysis from DataWeave, with prices at Target and Walmart increasing 5.5% and 5.3%, respectively.
Amazon's biggest price increase was between January and February, when it boosted prices 3.7%, according to DataWeave's analysis, before Trump enacted his tariffs in April.
Walmart and Target increased their prices by less than 1% over the same period.
DataWeave's survey found apparel prices rose 11.5% at the three retailers, while indoor and outdoor home goods prices increased 10.8%.
Prices for pet goods, health and beauty items, electronics, furniture, and appliances also saw increases between 6% and 8%, with Amazon's increases more pronounced than at Walmart and Target.
"Third-party sellers are far more exposed to tariff-driven cost increases," Guru Hariharan, founder and CEO of AI-driven e-commerce data platform CommerceIQ, told CNBC. "They don't have the scale, inventory flexibility or private-label leverage that large retailers like Walmart or Target can use to offset costs."
Hariharan said he expects Amazon's price increases to be felt during the holiday season.
Despite Amazon's price increases, it said online store sales grew 10% in the third quarter year over year while third party seller services increased 12% year over year.
"The reality is that we offer competitive, low prices for Amazon customers and, based on our comprehensive analysis of millions of popular products customers are purchasing, we have not seen increases in price outside of normal fluctuations," an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in September said tariffs created cost hikes for the company.
"We've seen a steady march-up, kind of a gradual increase as it relates to our cost levels in general merchandise, which has created the single-digit inflation that we find ourselves dealing with now," McMillon said at a Goldman Sachs global retailing conference.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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