Retailers have proven that innovation is still alive | So Good News

For 60 years, Walmart stores have marked the American landscape, with its cavernous supercenters serving as the one-stop shop of choice for value-conscious consumers, often in rural or modest communities with few other choices.

Fast forward to now, and price increases fueled by record inflation have done things for Walmart that the Arkansas brand could never have done on its own.

“We continued to gain household grocery market share by income demographic, with three-quarters of that share coming from those with annual incomes over $100,000,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey told investors and analysts on the retailer’s third-quarter earnings call. call last week.

In doing so, the company’s newly hired CEO overturned a long-held belief that Walmart’s lower demographics limited its success. While the company’s value still rings true for stressed-out and stressed-out consumers, Rainey’s revelation confirmed that “everyday low prices” now appeal to the rich.

Makes sense to us. A collaboration between PYMNTS and LendingClub, researching the results of the latest “New Reality Check: Paycheck to Paycheck Report: Holiday Shopping Edition,” we report that in October 2022, “43 percent of those earning more than $100,000 a year will live. from salary to salary”, increased by 38% compared to the same period last year. Do you eat the rich? We think not.

Read more: Walmart says inventory is down and shoppers over $100,000 are up

With home repairs

Soon, another shocking shock was delivered. After realizing that six-figure earners are relying more on discount food, we learned that home improvement spending hasn’t actually cratered as much as the broader housing market, which coincidentally delivered its ninth consecutive monthly retreat this week.

Is it true? Yes. Very.

“Even in the U.S. market, where home prices have fallen after an extraordinary spike during the pandemic, we see no impact on sales,” Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said in the retailer’s third-quarter earnings release on Wednesday (Nov 16). ), adds that rising home prices and equity, aging housing stock, and disposable income are the three main factors driving this demand.

Like Lowe’s, The Home Depot reported better-than-expected Q3 results on Tuesday (Nov. 15), when CEO Ted Decker told analysts, “We’re pleased with the traction we’re seeing. in our interconnected businesses as we continue to build momentum with our Pro and DIY customers.”

Dekker attributes much of that to “better functionality and features of our Home Depot app, where we’re seeing more engagement. In fact, throughout the year, we saw double-digit growth in monthly active users compared to last year.”

Also read: Lowe believes the home improvement trend is still strong and dynamic

In both cases, the nation’s two largest home improvement retailers are flipping the script, expecting their big-spending Pro customers to do more next year than they did as the weak housing market and mortgage rates hit 20-year highs. This year.

“This unique combination of factors is forcing homeowners to trade up, preferring to invest in remodeling and remodeling their current home to meet their family’s evolving needs, rather than buying a new home,” Ellison said. common misconceptions about the home improvement business.

Another great one on 34th Street

Macy’s has been outnumbered by floats in its Thanksgiving parade several times, in 1992, again in 2003, and seems to have barely escaped bankruptcy in 2020.

Fast forward to the post-Covid, hyper-inflationary, “precessional” world we live in today, and The Weekender is happy to report that Macy’s military-oriented “Polaris strategy” has given rise to the US department store’s retail brand. festive mood.

“This is a different company than we were back in March 2020,” CEO Jeff Jennett said during the retailer’s Q3 earnings recap on Thursday (Nov. 17).

Restoring the “timeless” appeal of the one-stop shopping experience across a portfolio that includes high-end Bloomingdale’s, Jennett cited a number of digital initiatives, as well as the success of a partnership with Toys R Us. permanent fixture at all 500+ brick and mortar locations.

“In general, the Toys R Us customer is younger and more diverse than our Macy’s customer, and we found that 85% of Toys R Us customers cross shop,” Jennett said. The deal is “a perfect example of finding a gap in the market and filling it strategically, gaining share and loyalty and creating lasting memories for kids and adults,” he said. Sounds like an Elf vision from the mind of a 40-year company veteran who’s been there and come back.

“I would say we are a modern department store here,” he added.

See also: Macy’s CEO: ‘We are a financially strong, modern department store’

How customers pay online with saved credentials
Convenience prompts some consumers to store their payment credentials with merchants, while security concerns put off other consumers. In collaboration with Amazon Web Services, for How We Pay Digitally: Stored Credentials Edition, PYMNTS surveyed 2,102 US consumers to analyze the consumer dilemma and determine how merchants can overcome holdups.