Many retailers say rising inflation has forced many consumers to retreat – especially low- and middle-income buyers. Cash-strapped buyers are struggling to buy groceries and gas and have cut their discretionary spending.
This has left retailers with a lot of the wrong stuff: Think back to the early days of the pandemic, when everyone was remodeling their homes and buying new laptops. Stores are now overloaded with that stuff, and they need to discount those items on demand for juice.
“These retailers misrepresent their inventory,” said Brian Nagel, a retail analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. In some areas, they are too heavy on the list and need to be cleared.
where to get discount
So shoppers can expect to find more deals on discretionary goods such as clothing, electronics, furniture, home goods and bath items – goods that have been highly sought after since the start of the pandemic and many people may have already bought.
Walmart: “Rising levels of food and fuel inflation are affecting the way customers spend,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillan said last week. Walmart said it would take higher markdowns across the list, especially for clothing.
“As high inflation continues and consumer sentiment worsens, customer demand within the consumer electronics industry has softened even further,” said Best Buy CEO Corey Barry.
“Customers, especially low-income customers, have become more cost-conscious and are limiting purchases and/or looking for low-cost sales goods,” the company said. “They are being impacted by the overall inflationary environment.”
target: Last month, Target said it was moving a lot of large, bulky products like furniture, TVs and kitchen appliances during its previous quarter as consumers turned away from those products. “We didn’t anticipate the magnitude of that change,” said Brian Cornell, Target’s CEO.
Target marked down some of those larger items to make room for high-demand products.
“The shopping environment is better than it has been in years,” Burlington CEO Michael O’Sullivan said last month. “We’re seeing brands we haven’t seen in a few years.”