Numerator research conducted early in July indicates consumer demand, softening somewhat under the influence of inflation, is driving more business to warehouse clubs and dollar stores.
In-store spending at clubs and dollar stores is up 15% and 14%, respectively. Across all income levels, more households are shopping club stores, with traffic up 9% year over year. Dollar stores are seeing high-income shoppers switching to save money, Numerator indicated. Dollar store traffic is up 4% and spending is up 9% year over year, with high-income shoppers generating the largest increase in spending, up 33%.
Numerator pointed out that financial optimism dipped in early July with only 47.4% of consumers rating their financial situation as good or very good, down from 56.2% of consumers at the same time in 2021. In July 2022 research, 23.6% of consumers claimed they did not have spare cash, a trend driven by rural, Gen Z and low-income households, according to Numerator.
Discretionary dollars are still available as 27% of consumers said they would use extra funds for vacations and travel, a trend driven by high-income, Gen X and rural households.
Unlike early 2022, when price increases disproportionately impacted lower-income, Gen Z and African-American households, inflation rates converged across all demographic groups by the beginning of July and are now similar, according to Numerator.
