Posted on 08/17/2022 12:55:10 PM PDT by EBH
Higher income shoppers turned to Walmart looking to cut costs on groceries amid surging inflation, helping to boost sales at the nation’s largest retailer during the second quarter.
Those rising prices also led customers to cut back on non-necessary items, however, and that weighed on profits as Walmart was forced to cut prices and clear inventory.
“We’re pleased to see more customers choosing Walmart during this inflationary period,” said CEO Doug McMillon. “The actions we’ve taken to improve inventory levels in the US, along with a heavier mix of sales in grocery put pressure on profit margin.”
Walmart still beat Wall Street expectations and sales at stores open at least a year rose 6.5% as more Americans, looking for savings, shopped for groceries at Walmart.
It was more than twice the increase in same-stores sales that the company booked in the first quarter.
And Walmart said it’s making progress in getting rid of excess inventory, though it’s still an issue. The company on Tuesday said the decline in profit that it forecast just a month ago will be smaller than it thought.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Or that a whole demographic just shifted downward on the socioeconomic scale...
LOL...now we know where all those Target shoppers went!
Higher income shoppers.
You mean like the shoppers who buy eggs?
“sales at stores open at least a year rose 6.5%”
That is falling behind inflation! Sales at those stores have gone up 10% or more.
I think this is a real bad indicator. We are not in a recession, we’re in the early stages of a depression, a contraction just happened and I do not for the life of me understand why people cannot see it.
Thankfully Whole Foods still has the first second husband and 7 Secret Service agents shopping at their high end stores using 3 SUV’s to buy one or two bags of groceries.
I just saw a chauffeur trotting out of Walmart toward a Rolls Royce while carrying a jar of Grey Poupon.
There's some truth to that. Target shoppers have been forced to look elsewhere because Target is overbought on seasonal items and hasn't yet been able to mark them down and get rid of enough to bring in new stuff.
The vendors shipped the items to their competitors, including Walmart, and the customers follow along.
The Biden economy is so bad, even the rich are now Walmart shoppers.
Soon we will have Celebrity Walmart shoppers websites. Showcasing the rich in their latest outfits from various thrift stores.
I can smell them.
At any Wal-Mart in eastern Massachusetts, you could set up an industrial wood chipper, I mean ICE processing van with prisoner transport vehicles, and eliminate at least half of the clientele.
Maybe it is.. Maybe it isn’t.
It could also mean that EVERYBODY is starting to look at their cash flow.
And people do not see value in spending $2-10 more on an identical item.. e.g. paper towels.. to Virtue signal they they shop at the “beautiful people store”.
Or, that those stores charging more just do not add the value they think they do to justify their prices.
Maybe it is.. Maybe it isn’t.
It could also mean that EVERYBODY is starting to look at their cash flow.
And people do not see value in spending $2-10 more on an identical item.. e.g. paper towels.. to Virtue signal they they shop at the “beautiful people store”.
Or, that those stores charging more just do not add the value they think they do to justify their prices.
Target is not as heavy on grocery items as Walmart
As far as groceries go, my local Food Lion beats Walmart consistently on pricing. On Sunday I dropped the same 4 items into online carts at both places and Food Lion beat Walmart by $7.
It’s interesting to me that while European brands are typically high priced (BMW, Bosch, etc) their food chains (Food Lion, Aldi) are ruthless competitors on price.
Walmart prices are so high now it’s considered a high end specialty grocery store. Wait until inventory gets a little lower. Walmart will be holding live in store auctions for grocery items to the highest bidder. What do I hear for this gallon of milk ? Who’ll start it out at twenty five dollars, now 30, and now 35.
We frequently shop aldi. Among other things you can’t find cheaper salmon filets.
And I actually like the bag your own items model. I’d rather do that than wait in a long line to checkout.
Because of the reason you stated we usually go to several grocery stores to get certain items.
Also because of varying inventory selection and prices.
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