A pricing study by Profitero reveals that leading online retailers in the US were holding prices of electronics steady as the holiday season comes around despite the pressure of recent tariff hikes. Electronic goods were priced around 2.3% higher on average than from a year ago while across the board, prices of all goods have climbed about 0.9% higher YoY.

The increase in prices of goods have come in below the average rate of inflation for the same duration, which was around 2.4% in 2018 and stands at around 1.8% this year till date. Toys have gotten 0.2% cheaper while video game prices have dropped around 2% on average since last year at leading retailers.

The US-China trade war has resulted in increased tariffs on around $539 billion worth of Chinese goods since 2018. While the tariffs were meant to hurt China until it gave in and reformed its unfair trade practices, American retailers and consumers have ended up suffering as the cost of goods sold have gone up.

Large retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy have so far absorbed these increased costs without impacting the American consumers. However, this has impacted their profits, with EBIT margins of retailers other than Walmart having declined to 6.7% since last year – the lowest levels seen in nearly a decade.