We are pleased to publish a new Policy Paper in which we compare developments in e‐commerce prices to official estimates of consumer good inflation in South Africa.
- We evaluate online discounting behaviour for specific products and product categories, especially during Black Friday sales, and quantify online price persistence in South Africa.
- We show that e-commerce prices experience changes at a broadly similar frequency as our estimates imply for official measures of consumer prices.
- Our analysis suggests real‐time alternative data are important, not just for forecasting, but also for understanding the nature of price dynamics in South Africa.
The paper is publicly available here.
For those interested in our forecasting service, policy research and big data analytics, feel free to contact us for a demonstration.
