Shoe prices continued to rise in March after a sharp increase at the start of the year persists, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).
While overall inflation jumped last month due to rising energy costs sparked by the conflict in the Middle East, retail footwear prices rose 2.4 percent year-over-year in March, higher eight of the last nine months and the fastest in 40 months, the FDRA noted.
All key target markets saw year-over-year increases last month, led by women’s retail footwear prices jumping 3.2 percent, climbing for the eighth straight month and the most in 41 months. Men’s shoe prices advanced 1.4 percent last month, higher seven of the last nine months, while children’s footwear prices increased 2.4 percent, the second fastest in 14 months.
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Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN that there are three main factors leading to higher shoe costs.
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“Footwear prices are up not only as overall inflation rose and the average landed duty-paid cost per pair of footwear climbed again, but also as year-to-date footwear spending is up while year-to-date footwear imports are down—that is, footwear demand is growing while supply is shrinking so far this year,” Raines said. “In fact, the divergence between year-to-date footwear spending and imports is on track to be one of the widest annual divergences on record, hinting at higher sustained prices for footwear.”
Last month’s increase in retail footwear prices also comes at the same time the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that overall consumer prices in March spiked significantly from February.
According to the bureau’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, retail inflation rose 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier after rising 2.4 percent in February.
The report also saw prices increase 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in March, after rising 0.3 percent in February. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.2 percent in March and increased 2.6 percent over the same time last year.
The March data release marks the first inflation report since the Iran war started in February. And while the U.S. and Iran have agreed to a temporary, two-week ceasefire, implications of the war — including a spiked cost in fuel and oil — will take months to unwind and place further pressure on an already fatigued consumer.