Inflation pushed dollar stores to expand their price points. Higher-income shoppers, pressured by the same headwind, came along for the ride.
Dollar store executives have been touting gains with higher income shoppers over the past few quarters. That’s a customer acquisition win several years in the making and tracks with broader habits among higher income consumers.
“The interesting thing is that in the data, we have always seen that … upper middle income people tend to be those who are more likely to take advantage of coupons, sales, just as a more general point,” Jessie Handbury, associate professor at The Wharton School and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, told Retail Dive. “Higher-income people taking advantage of lower prices is not a new thing.”