In the US, shoppers earning $100,000 or more are looking for discounts — Fortune
In the United States, people with annual incomes of $100,000 or more are increasingly looking for bargains and behaving like lower-income shoppers due to prolonged inflation and rising basic expenses. This was stated by Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos, Fortune reports.
Changing consumer habits
According to Vasos, Dollar General’s main customers are people with annual incomes of less than $45,000. When the price of gasoline reaches $4 per gallon, they are more likely to shop closer to home, visit stores more often, and spend less per visit.
The company’s chief said that people with middle and above-average incomes are displaying similar behavior due to prolonged inflationary pressure. According to him, an increasing number of shoppers earning $100,000 or more a year do not consider themselves affluent because of rising expenses.
Expenses and fuel prices
As the publication writes, the average gasoline price in the United States stood at $4.476 per gallon, compared with $3.189 a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association, AAA. The cost of diesel fuel reached $6.50 per gallon, raising prices for goods transported by trucks.
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Vasos cited utility bills, new and used cars, insurance, groceries, and caring for other people among the factors putting pressure on consumers. At the same time, he noted that consumers remain resilient primarily because employment has been maintained.
Demand for cheap goods
Dollar General offers about 2,000 products priced at $1 or less, and, according to Vasos, this is especially important for shoppers under current conditions. US retail sales rose by 1.2% in August and by 1.1% excluding gasoline.
A Harris Poll survey last year showed that 64% of Americans with six-figure annual incomes do not consider it a measure of success, but see it as the minimum needed to cope with expenses. Among respondents earning $200,000 or more, 64% said they had used reward points to pay for essential goods, while 46% relied on credit cards to make ends meet.
