Americans are visiting the dollar stores more frequently as high inflation and high interest rates continue to make shopping for necessities more expensive.
Citing Numerator’s Total Commerce Panel, Supermarket News reported Monday that consumers are making 17% more trips to dollar stores this year compared to last year. Numerator’s panel collects data from 150,000 shoppers and it is updated regularly.
According to the most recent update, published Sept. 6, overall sales were flat during the first week of August, “with in-store sales stabilizing alongside prices, and online declines driven by lower prices.” It also showed that trips to dollar stores have been steadily increasing this year.
While lower in-store volumes were reported at gas and convenience stores (down 19%, per Supermarket News), sales remained up for the restaurant, club, and dollar sectors. Higher spend per unit, was observed across the board, except for online shopping.
Numerator said online “shoppers are increasing volume sales on lower-priced goods, which may indicate a shift to purchasing everyday [consumer packaged goods] items online.”
Supermarket News also noted that sales were down 14% for general merchandise categories, including an 18% dip in electronics sales and a 20% decrease in toy sales.
A new Consumer Price Index report is set to be released Wednesday. Last month’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that inflation was up slightly in July. In an effort to bring down inflation, the Federal Reserve Bank has been increasing interest rates, which makes it harder for people to borrow money.
“The ongoing episode of high inflation initially emerged from a collision between very strong demand and pandemic-constrained supply,” said Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jerome Powell in late August. He also said that the Fed expects “unwinding of pandemic-related distortions,” could still take some time and effort.