US retailers are gearing up for a more price-sensitive customer ahead of the critical holiday selling season, as soaring inflation clouds their hopes for more normal levels of supply and demand than they saw during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the country’s largest store chains have reported robust back-to-school sales in recent days and said they expect consumers to prioritise celebrations with family and friends at Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. But their optimism has been tempered by the acknowledgment that low-income consumers are struggling with higher food and petrol prices.
Walmart, the largest US retailer, is responding by offering entire Thanksgiving meals that cost less than $50 for a family of four. “We expect inflation to continue to influence the choices that families make, and we’re adjusting to that reality so we can help them more,” Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon said last week.