Durables Inflation Ticks Up in January, Led by Consumer Electronics, OpenBrand CPI Shows

Durable goods prices accelerated in January as retailers reset margins post-holidays and 2025 tariffs; OpenBrand CPI rose 0.75% MoM, a 12-month high.

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, February 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The year began with a modest acceleration in durable goods prices after retailers in some categories adjusted their margins following holiday discounting and 2025 tariff costs. The February 2026 release of the OpenBrand Consumer Price Index (CPI) – Durable and Personal Goods shows prices rose +0.75% month-over-month in January, the largest gain in 12 months and up from a revised +0.43% in December.

Price growth accelerated across four of the five product categories tracked by OpenBrand, led by recreation goods, home improvement, and personal care. Prices for recreational products like TVs, headphones, and speaker systems grew by +2.44% on a month-over-month basis in January, at least partially due to a decrease in the frequency of discounts.

“While month-over-month price growth in January was the largest gain in 12 months, it’s not unusual for the first month of the year to bring relatively sharp price increases,” said Ralph McLaughlin, Chief Economist at OpenBrand.

“The new year is an opportunity for manufacturers and retailers to shift pricing in response to holiday promotions and broader market forces. We didn't see unusually large holiday discounts in December, so a more likely explanation for the reset could be due to some manufacturers and retailers adjusting their margins after absorbing some of the tariff costs in 2025.”

Key Findings
- If we compare price growth in January 2026 to price growth in January over the past decade, it ranks below the +0.96% month-over-month average. Much of the increase this January is likely due to normal seasonal upticks at the beginning of the year, rather than persistent inflationary forces.

- Appliances posted a modest +0.24% increase, below the 10-year January average. We expect prices to decelerate again in the months ahead.
Prices of communication devices, including phones, tablets, computers, and printers, fell on a month-over-month basis by -0.29%, down sharply from a revised +1.31% in December.

- In January, the typical discount magnitude decreased slightly to 20.0%, down from 20.8% in December.

Year-Ahead Outlook
As short-term tariff swings ease and economic policy uncertainty fades, we anticipate 2026 will mark a period of stabilization, including within the durables sector. The limited expansion in durables market size we expect this year is likely to be driven by incremental price increases following recent Fed rate cuts. We project durables market growth to reach its high point in July, coinciding with the largest price adjustment, before slowing through the rest of the year.

“We expect only limited expansion in overall durables market size this year, driven primarily by incremental price increases following recent rate cuts,” McLaughlin said. “Durables market growth is projected to peak in July, aligning with the largest anticipated price adjustment, before moderating through the remainder 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
Press Contact:
press@openbrand.com
Media Interviews:
Ralph McLaughlin, Chief Economist — ralph@openbrand.com

Sidney Waterfall
OpenBrand
email us here

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.