Shoppers are looking for deals, but they’re frustrated that brands and retailers aren’t doing more to help them save. They’re using more coupons, but there are fewer coupons available.
So it seems more would-be deal-seeking coupon-clippers are saying, forget it, let’s just shop at Walmart instead.
While many retailers have seen inflation-weary shoppers buy less, and visit less, Walmart last week reported a sharp increase in sales. Shoppers feeling pinched by higher prices at other stores, who are apparently uninterested in putting in the effort to clip coupons and search through weekly sales circulars, appear increasingly attracted to Walmart’s everyday low prices.
“People are looking for value,” RBC Capital Markets retail analyst Steven Shemesh told the New York Times, “and instead of going to Target, Kroger or wherever else they shop, they’re now going to Walmart.”
“The only place anyone is shopping right now is Amazon, Walmart and Costco,” DA Davidson analyst Michael Baker told CNN. “Walmart does a great job focusing on value. Value has become more important.”
Determined deal-seekers have long known that you can save more by waiting for sales and strategically timing your coupon use at traditional grocery stores. But that calculation changed during the Covid pandemic, when promotions declined, prices rose and coupons were harder to find. These days, promotions are returning, prices are stabilizing and coupons are making a comeback. But for many shoppers, Walmart’s low prices remain an attractive alternative.
“Our value proposition is resonating with customers,” Walmart’s Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told investors last week. “We have always focused on being a great value with everyday low price,” Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner added, “so customers can always depend on us for the best value of our basket of goods.”
Of course, Walmart does accept coupons if you’re so inclined. Walmart has sale prices, too, in the form of “rollbacks.” And Walmart says there are a lot more of those – with more on the way.
“We have more than 7,200 rollbacks across categories,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said, “and we’ll continue working to get more rollbacks to help customers and help members save money.”
Groceries are where inflation has been most stubborn. And that’s where Walmart says many of its rollbacks are aimed, with the number of food item rollbacks up 35% from the same time last year. And Walmart is flexing its muscle with suppliers, pressuring them to keep prices down so it doesn’t have to pass higher wholesale prices on to shoppers.
“I’m hoping that what we see from our brand suppliers is investment in price, and we’re seeing that from some of them and not others,” McMillon said. “There are some that are still talking about cost increases, and we’re fighting back on that aggressively because we think prices need to come down.”
A recent Inmar Intelligence survey found that nearly half of respondents think brands and retailers need to improve how they help shoppers save money. If you’re the self-sufficient type, there are coupons and promotions out there that can help you save at your local grocery store. But Walmart seems to be winning, by being the place where shoppers don’t have to do their homework in order to save.
It’s the same reason business is picking up at places like ALDI, Costco and Trader Joe’s – all of which promote their everyday low prices, and none of which accepts coupons.
Couponing hasn’t been quite the same since Extreme Couponing-era excesses caused brands and retailers to crack down, an increasing shift to digital coupons valid only on a single purchase meant there were fewer opportunities to use stacks of paper coupons to stock up, and pandemic-related supply chain challenges caused a downturn in coupons and deals altogether. It’s enough to make you want to shop at a store that just offers low prices all the time. And if that prompts traditional grocery stores to do more to win you back – then Walmart shoppers won’t be the only ones enjoying some much-needed savings.
Image source: Walmart
