Grocery prices ease, but shoppers say it doesn’t feel that way

Grocery prices rose just over one percent in the past year, the slowest pace in four years, according to the latest consumer price data. Shoppers interviewed in three cities said they had not noticed.

The disconnect is arithmetic. A basket that cost $100 in 2020 costs roughly $125 today, and a slowdown in the rate of increase does nothing to shrink that number.

Retailers have begun advertising price cuts on staple items, a tactic that analysts say is aimed as much at perception as at volume.