Dollar store chains have seen an influx of higher-income shoppers in recent months as economic uncertainty surges and households look to save.
“Higher-income customers have been a meaningful growth driver for us,” Dollar Tree (DLTR) CEO Michael Creedon told investors, specifically noting the chain saw an increase in customers with household incomes of more than $100,000. The company reported that same-store sales rose 5.4% in the first quarter, with improvement across all income levels.
Earlier this week, Dollar General (DG) told investors it “saw the highest percent of trade-in customers” in the last four years during the first quarter. Its CEO, Todd Vasos, said the company saw increased trade-in activity, or consumers who would typically shop at higher-cost competitors, from middle- and high-income consumers, who came to Dollar General instead. Its same-store sales grew 3.4% in the quarter.
I cannot find in the Press Release how DLTR was able to determine this. Do they use credit card data to track income level? Surveys in store? It may be obvious, but it’s eluding me.
At first, I thought so, too, but when I’ve been to dollar stores myself (as one of the subject people who is just cheap and has been doing it for years), I typically still use cash and most of the people I see there also use cash so I wonder how accurate data is obtained.
