The consumer spending they continue to grow in the United States, as shown by the results of Walmart and Home Depot stores, as well as official retail sales data, driven by rising prices and causing some habit changes.
The turnover of supermarket giant Walmart grew 2.4% to 141.6 billion dollars in the moving quarter from February to April.
In the United States, however, customers bought fewer non-food products, a phenomenon that the group attributes to the expiration of the exceptional aid provided by the government to the population during the pandemic.
For Neil Saunders, from the Global Data consultancy, this decrease is explained by the fact that Walmart’s clientele "tends to be more sensitive to price increases, and was more affected by the strong inflation"which in April remained at a 40-year high in the United States, at 8.3% per year.
Expenditures on food, on the other hand, increased.
It is that with inflation, "more consumers turned to Walmart to cut costs"Said Saunders.
The group’s chief financial officer, Brett Biggs, noted in a conference call that customer behaviors vary widely.
The company sold more than some quite expensive items like video game consoles, patio furniture or grills.
But some consumers, at the same time, bought less expensive brands of grocery items like meat or dairy.
Meanwhile, the chain of articles and tools for the home Home Depotwhich made a lot of money during the pandemic, when Americans improved their homes during the confinement, is still in good health: its turnover increased 4% between February and April, to 38.9 billion dollars.
Signal of the effect of inflation, the number of purchases made in its stores fell, but the average amount spent by its customers increased 11%.
Another sign of the increase in consumer spending in the United States: the Department of Commerce reported an increase of 0.9% in retail sales in April compared to March, and 8.2% compared to April of the year last.
Balance less sales with costs.
in the coming months "the consumer tolerance for high inflation will be tested and the new rise in gasoline prices (ndlr: in historical records), combined with the adjustment of financial conditions, will weigh on the willingness of families to spend more for expensive items"highlighted Lydia Boussour, an economist at Oxford Economics.
"But strong fundamentals, in particular robust job income growth and accumulated savings, will continue to support consumer spending."he added.
Meanwhile, the price rises affect the profits of companies like Walmart, whose shares fell since morning on Wall Street, to close with a loss of more than 11%.
The net income of the supermarket chain fell in this context 25% over the same period of the previous year, to 2,050 million dollars, and the company reduced its profit forecast for the entire fiscal year.
The result is "disappointing"recognized the general director of the group, Doug McMillon, who explained the decrease in profits due to the increase in salary costs.
"We hired more employees at the end of the year to replace those who were on sick leave"but with the drop in covid cases in February, "we find ourselves for weeks with more employees than necessary"he explained.
With the drop in sales of non-food products, the group’s inventories increased and with it the storage costs. Fuel costs to transport products also increased.
For Home Depot, net profit (+2%) trailed sales somewhat but the group still raised its full-year sales forecast and the stock rose 1.68%.
"We enter a more difficult period for retail" but "the landing seems to go smoothly, at least on the demand side"highlighted Neil Saunder.
"The biggest challenge for chain stores will now be to balance a decline in their sales volume with higher costs."he concluded.
