Covid Lockdown Shopping Habits Are Hard to Break
Results from Walmart and Home Depot reveal no letup in the bulk buying, nesting and stockpiling behavior that has taken hold since the pandemic.
Home Depot’s sales got a boost as consumers continue to splash out on home remodeling, gardening and decorating.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergAt the onset of the pandemic, consumers almost overnight adopted a new set of shopping rituals. Judging from two major retail earnings reports on Tuesday, those habits haven’t loosened their grip.
Walmart Inc. reported that its U.S. comparable sales rose 6.4% from a year earlier in the quarter, far stronger than the 3.8% analysts expected. While traffic was down significantly, average spending per receipt soared 24%. That’s an indication that people are continuing to consolidate their shopping into fewer trips, likely reflecting pandemic-related safety concerns. Meanwhile, Walmart’s e-commerce growth clocked in at 79%, driven in part by services such as pickup and delivery, which notched triple-digit increases.