Bloomberg (November 22)
“The American consumer is limping into the holiday season. That was the upshot from a week of big-box retailer earnings that came with signs of caution among shoppers increasingly worried about a softening job market and persistent inflation.” Target and Home Depot are struggling, while “even Walmart Inc., the belle of the retailer ball with huge profits and a rosy forecast, sent an economic warning of sorts” since its growth “came largely from groceries and mid-tier customers looking for bargains — both signs of skittishness among consumers.”
Tags: Bargains, Big-box, Caution, Earnings, Economic warning, Forecast, Holiday season, Job market, Persistent inflation, Profits, Retailer, Shoppers, Skittishness, Struggling, U.S., Upshot, Walmart, Worried
Minnesota Star Tribune (October 27)
“The cheap-and-tasty paradigm that makes junk food so appealing is collapsing: Many of those guilty-pleasure treats aren’t so cheap anymore.” The American diet has been shaped by “irresistible sweets, savory snacks and fast food… with big flavors and minimal nutritional value for a century now.” Healthier habits and alternatives “have chipped away at that. But most of all, shoppers seem to be collectively drawing the line of how much is too much for junk food.” This has left “big food companies” struggling “to sell more food in recent years. Any revenue growth tends to come from price increases, not more unit sales.”
Tags: Appealing, Big flavors, Cheap, Collapsing, Diet, Fast food, Guilty-pleasure, Irresistible sweets, Junk food, Nutritional value, Price increases, Savory, Shoppers, Snacks, Tasty, Treats, Unit sales
WARC (November 19)
“More shoppers, GMV growth and the growing role of AI was the Singles Day story from Alibaba and JD.com, but the wider economy continues to feel the impact of China’s property slowdown.”
Tags: AI, Alibaba, China, Economy, GMV, Growth, Impact, JD.com, Property, Shoppers, Singles Day, Slowdown
Reuters (December 13)
“Conflict in the Middle East added geopolitical uncertainty to a luxury industry outlook already clouded by inflation, with shoppers in the U.S. and Europe tightening their purse strings while expectations for a strong post-pandemic rebound in China were derailed by a property crisis” On top of all that, Bergdorf Goodman and other high end retailers are already discounting adding to “concern that a lackluster Christmas could lead to inventory gluts – potentially dragging labels into a discounting spiral that would cheapen their image.”
Tags: Bergdorf Goodman, China, Christmas, Clouded, Discounting, Europe, Geopolitical uncertainty, Inflation, Inventory gluts, Lackluster, Luxury, Middle East, Outlook, Property crisis, Shoppers, Tightening, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (November 27)
“So far there are signs that U.S. shoppers are shelling out cash on gifts and other items. More shoppers visited stores and online spending grew on Black Friday this year compared with last year.” For many retailers, however, the rub is that “consumers are shifting away from store credit cards,” which had “been a lucrative source of revenue for retailers…. But the stream is drying up.”
Tags: Black Friday, Cash, Consumers, Gifts, https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/black-friday-spending-was-strong-how-people-pay-for-gifts-is-upending-retailers-e783ba2e?mod=itp_wsj U.S., Lucrative, Online spending, Retailers, Revenue, Shoppers, Store credit cards, Stores
Boston Globe (January 10)
“Many investors had expected department stores to enjoy robust sales over the holidays in light of a U.S. economy buoyed by low unemployment, higher wages, strong consumer confidence and cheap gas.” Lackluster results from Macy’s and Kohl’s sent “retail stocks into a tailspin… calling into question whether such mall-based chains can compete in a changing landscape where shoppers are shifting more of their spending online.”
Tags: Consumer confidence, Holiday sales, Investors, Kohl’s, Lackluster, Macy’s, Malls, Online, Retail stocks, Shoppers, Tailspin, U.S., Unemployment, Wages
