Amazon issued a strong rebuttal to a recent Wall Street Journal report that alleged the company has increased prices on essential goods following tariff hikes. The online retailer argued that the report relied on a small and misleading dataset, calling its methodology “fundamentally flawed” and insisting that it did not accurately reflect Amazon’s pricing practices. According to the Journal, its analysis of around 2,500 low-cost items indicated an average price increase of 5.2% between January 20 and July 1. Amazon countered that these items account for just 0.04% of the six million essential products it offers and criticized the report for basing its conclusions on two isolated dates instead of looking at long-term pricing patterns. Amazon emphasized that more than 92% of the items analyzed either showed no change or a decrease in price when looking at monthly averages rather than snapshots.
In its detailed response, Amazon said that the Wall Street Journal mischaracterized temporary promotions, made comparisons to out-of-stock competitor listings, and included factual errors on items such as PetArmor ear rinse, Zarbee’s cough syrup, and Seventh Generation cleaning wipes. To support its position, the company cited research from Profitero, an independent firm that has tracked Amazon’s prices for eight years and consistently ranked them as the lowest among 22 major U.S. retailers. The retailer also published a list of 100 products that saw price reductions in 2024, some by up to 38%. Amazon pointed out that even the Journal’s primary example—a can of Campbell’s New England Clam Chowder—was priced the same as its lowest competitor on July 1. While acknowledging that retail prices fluctuate, Amazon stressed its commitment to maintaining “everyday low prices” and accused the Journal of misleading readers with selective data that ignored widespread price reductions and Amazon’s ability to meet or beat competitor pricing.