The real story about retailers and price increases

While it should be clear to most that the price increases we saw were driven by simple supply-demand dynamics, there appears to be a sentiment among some that retailers have played a role in keeping prices artificially high. Let me put that notion to rest.
The retail industry is highly competitive and price sensitive. Consumers can (and often do) switch retailers when prices rise. We saw tremendous growth in dollar store sales at the height of the 2021-2022 inflationary period as consumers traded down to lower priced offerings.