The Eightx Inflation Pass-Through Gap · Live · updated August 17, 2026
Can you raise prices faster than your costs?
Pricing power, measured. For each consumer category we take what brands can charge shoppers (CPI) and subtract what it costs to make the goods (producer PPI), year over year. A positive gap is margin tailwind; a negative gap is a squeeze. The other half of the Input-Cost Index — that page shows costs rising, this one shows whether you can pass them on.
The read · Jul 2026
Pricing power is roughly balanced against costs.
Average pass-through gap across 8 consumer categories. Across all items, consumer prices are running +3.3% versus producer prices at +4.7% — a -1.4-point gap.
What this means for your brand
Pricing power is real but perishable. Retail prices are still rising faster than input costs in 3 of 8 categories — but that's margin you only keep if you actually take price. Lead on price before competitors close the gap and it normalises away.
Pricing power by category · Jul 2026 · most to least
Gap = consumer-price inflation (CPI) minus producer-price inflation (PPI), year over year, in percentage points. Positive = retail prices rising faster than input costs (pricing power); negative = costs outrunning prices (margin squeeze).
How this works & sources
The idea. Margin moves with the gap between what you can charge and what it costs to make the product. We measure that directly: CPI (Consumer Price Index, the retail price shoppers pay) minus PPI (Producer Price Index, the factory-gate cost of the same goods), year over year, for each consumer category. A positive gap means brands are taking price faster than costs are rising — margin expansion. A negative gap means the opposite — a squeeze.
The pairs. Apparel: CPI Apparel vs PPI apparel manufacturing. Food & beverage: CPI food at home & beverages vs PPI food manufacturing. Beauty & personal care: CPI personal-care products vs PPI toilet-preparation manufacturing. Home & furnishings: CPI household furnishings vs PPI furniture manufacturing. The headline is the average across categories; the all-items figure pairs total CPI with PPI final demand. All series are published monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and pulled via FRED.
How to read it. A category states Pricing power when the gap is above +0.8, Margin squeeze below -0.8, and Balanced in between. It is a category-average signal, not your brand's P&L — your sourcing, contracts and mix differ. For where input costs are heading, see the DTC Input-Cost Index; for the demand side, the DTC Macro Pulse; or browse all live indexes. Powered by hub.eightx.co.
Pricing strategy for your brand
Are you leaving price on the table, or about to get squeezed?
We help consumer brands read cost and pricing signals like these and turn them into the repricing, mix and sourcing moves that protect margin. See what your category's gap means for your next price list.
Talk to a CFO →