High grocery bills are causing pain at supermarket checkouts. More and more Americans are turning to Walmart to stretch their cash.
The Arkansas-based retailer is the largest grocer in the U.S., accounting for more than a quarter of U.S. grocery dollars, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. It boasts more than twice the size.
Walmart’s low prices have also resonated with higher-income consumers, which accounted for about half of the company’s food market share gains in the fiscal quarter that ended in January.
“If you think about what the grocery store will look like over the next five to 10 years, Central America and affluent Americans are going to have a lot of shopping carts,” said Brad Thomas, managing director of consumer and retail at KeyBank Capital Markets. “Increasingly, we’re moving some of that to Walmart.”
While many Americans turn to Walmart for relief from high prices, retail shoppers are not immune to the effects of inflation. Retailers took steps to offset some of the price increases. The company announced that starting Nov. 1, it will “deinflation” some traditional Thanksgiving meal items and offer them at lower prices than last year.
But as inflation subsides and prices flatten, can Walmart continue to protect its newfound shoppers?
CNBC investigated Walmart’s grocery business to find out why more Americans may buy groceries from the company in the future.
Watch the video to learn more.