Prices Fall for the First Time in a Year as Pre-Holiday Discounting Accelerates Across Durable & Personal Goods

OpenBrand CPI shows durable and personal goods inflation turned negative in November (–0.11%) even before Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts.

SAN DEIGO, CA, UNITED STATES, December 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Inflation across durable and personal goods fell in November for the first time since November 2024, signaling a meaningful shift in consumer price dynamics heading into the holiday season. According to the December release of the OpenBrand Consumer Price Index (CPI), prices declined -0.11% month-over-month in November , reversing October’s +0.21% rise and delivering one of the clearest signs yet that retailer pricing strategies, not macro forces alone, are driving disinflation in goods categories.

Remarkably, prices were already trending downward even before Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions began. Month-to-date data through November 27 showed a -0.05% decline, reflecting how early and aggressive discounting shaped price movements this year. November also brought the highest discount magnitude of 2025 (20.9%) and the deepest discounting since early 2024. Black Friday weekend delivered the widest discount coverage of the post-COVID era, with 42.2% of all listed products on sale.

“This is a milestone moment for goods inflation,” said Ralph McLaughlin, Chief Economist at OpenBrand. “For the first time in a year, durable and personal goods prices are meaningfully declining. Retailers are using discounting more strategically than at any point in the post-pandemic cycle, and that flexibility is helping cool inflation faster than many expected. This end-of-the-year decline is in line with what our forecast models were predicting, and though we anticipate 2026 to bring more cooling than heating, the inflation path could still be somewhat volatile over the next few months. But the trend is promising.”

Price declines were broad-based across product groups. Appliances fell -0.68%, the sharpest drop of 2025, while communications (-0.03%), recreation (-0.16%), and personal care (-0.21%) also posted declines as discounting deepened. Home improvement (+0.51%) remained the lone category with rising prices, extending its streak of monthly increases to 32.

The November slowdown in goods inflation comes as the broader U.S. economy continues to cool but remains resilient. Inflation across major indicators has eased into the low 3% range year-over-year, and the labor market is softening gradually ahead of the Federal Reserve’s December 10 meeting. Elevated interest rates are weighing on household budgets, pushing retailers to rely more heavily on strategic promotions to stimulate demand. Against this backdrop, the November OpenBrand CPI offers one of the earliest signals that retail-driven price adjustments may accelerate disinflation through the end of the year.

About the OpenBrand CPI
The data used in this report leverages OpenBrand’s industry-leading library of durable and personal goods pricing, promotion, and availability for over 1.4 million individual products. This is more than ten times the coverage of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index, allowing for more timely and granular reporting of price changes in the market. The OpenBrand CPI provides real-time insights into consumer price dynamics for retailers, manufacturers, and policymakers, delivering earlier signals than traditional inflation measures.

Download the full report: openbrand.com/cpi

Sidney Waterfall
OpenBrand
press@openbrand.com
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