Science

Walmart Is Gaining Market Share Among Affluent Shoppers

Walmart has secured its position as America’s “price discount juggernaut” retailer as the Biden-Harris inflation storm sparked a scramble by big box retailers, supermarket retail chains, and discount chains into a value war to retain consumer market share. 

As previously noted, Walmart has emerged as the clear winner in the “trade-down phenomenon” that continues today as more affluent shoppers gravitate to the retail giant, and a new Goldman report shows this trend is only gaining pace. 

Goldman’s Kate McShane, Mark Jordan, and others used retail data from HundredX, including a household income breakdown and Net Purchase Intent trends, to show that Walmart has continued to gain market share of upper-income households, while other retailers, including Costco and Target, have marginally increased their share of lower-income households relative to the industry over the last year. 

“In our view, the share shift among income cohorts is likely due in part to upper-income consumers seeking out convenience, everyday value, and a comprehensive assortment through Walmart, which over-indexes to lower-income consumers relative to COST and TGT,” McShane told clients. 

The analysts add more color on the shifting consumer trends:

However, over the course of the last year, certain companies have increased their customer share of lower-income households relative to the industry average. In Jan ’24, TGT’s share was -5.4% lower than the industry, but it is now -3.0% lower in Jan ’25. Similarly, COST’s share in Jan ’24 was -7.7% lower than the industry, but it is now only -4.9% lower. In comparison, Walmart’s share of lower-income consumers relative to the industry has been decreasing: in Jan ’24, the company’s share was +9.0% higher than the industry but is now only +5.5% higher. More of Walmart’s customer base has been shifting towards upper-income households, where share was -9.0% lower than the industry in Jan ’24, but it is now only -5.5% lower. In general, trends point towards companies such as COST and TGT increasing their lower-income audience share, while Walmart is shifting towards increasing its upper-income audience share.

The analysts noted that price discounts and free delivery of goods likely led to a growing share of upper-income shoppers trading down to Walmart:

In 3Q, WMT saw higher engagement across income cohorts, with upper-income households continuing to account for the majority of share gains. In our view, this is likely due in part to WMT’s expanded convenience offerings (e.g., free delivery through Walmart+ on $35+ orders, curbside pick up), store remodels, more comprehensive assortment through Marketplace, and a continued focus on every day value, with our pricing studies showing that Walmart US grocery prices remain ~11% below peers, on average.

Here’s the income breakdown of shoppers at each of the retail giants:

The takeaway is that the multi-year inflation storm has transformed the nation’s consumers into Walmart shoppers—yet another sign that living standards continue to erode due to horrible decision-making by elected and unelected elites in the DC swamp. This has even impacted wealthy consumers who must trade down to Walmart. The financial misery DC folks have inflicted on all consumers has unified the nation, and many are thrilled…

How To Forge The Spectator Class

Authored by Josh Stylman via The Brownstone Institute,

My father could disassemble and rebuild a car engine in our garage. I, like many of my generation, was steered toward the ‘civilized’ path – white collar work, climate-controlled offices, and an increasing detachment from the physical world. While I grew up loving sports, memorizing baseball stats with religious devotion, and finding genuine joy in the games, something fundamental has shifted in how men engage with athletics today.

In dimly lit rooms across the nation, millions of men gather every weekend, adorned in jerseys bearing other men’s names – not as a complement to their own achievements, but as a substitute for them. We’ve transformed from a nation of players to a nation of watchers.

Like Rome’s bread and circuses, this passive consumption serves to pacify rather than inspire. 

The games themselves aren’t the problem – they can build character, teach discipline, and provide genuine entertainment. I still love sports, finding genuine joy in the games just as I did memorizing those baseball stats as a kid. But somewhere along the way, I grew up and realized they should complement life’s achievements, not substitute for them. The danger lies in what happens when grown men never make this transition.

A growing segment of young men face an even more insidious form of spectator culture. While their fathers at least watched real athletes achieve real things, many young people now idolize social media personalities and content creators – becoming passive observers of manufactured personas who achieved fame primarily by being watched. They can recite influencer dramas and gaming achievements but don’t know the stories of Solzhenitsyn or have ever built something with their own hands. The virtual has replaced the visceral; the parasocial has replaced the personal.

History shows us a recurring cycle: hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. We find ourselves now in the latter stages of this cycle, where comfort and convenience have bred a generation of observers rather than builders. Our sophisticated entertainment serves as a digital opiate, keeping the masses content while their capacity for meaningful action atrophies.

This transformation isn’t accidental. As I explored in my ‘Engineering Reality‘ series, the systematic reframing of physical fitness as problematic represents a calculated effort to weaken societal resilience. Major media outlets like the Atlantic and MSNBC have published pieces linking physical fitness to right-wing extremism, while academic institutions increasingly frame workout culture as problematic. Even gym ownership has been characterized as a potential indicator of radicalization. The message couldn’t be clearer: individual strength – both literal and metaphorical – threatens the prescribed order.

This erosion of self-reliance extends far beyond fitness. A friend who’s spent decades as an auto mechanic recently confided that he’s grateful to be nearing retirement. “These Teslas,” he told me, “they’re not even cars anymore – they’re computers on wheels. When something goes wrong, you don’t fix it; you just replace entire modules.” What was once a craft that…