As today’s consumers spend their dollars across more channels and store formats, retailers are facing increased competition for dollar share, experts note. Despite this fact, the overall discount retail channel performed “quite well” last year as dollar stores drove growth of nearly 7 percent, notes Jon Hauptman, senior director of retail at Long Grove, Ill.-based Willard Bishop Co., an Inmar analytics company.
“Economic uncertainty continues to influence shopper behavior. Starting with the recession of 2008, consumers fundamentally changed their shopping habits and are not going back to their old free-spending ways,” Hauptman says. “Additionally, millennials are looking for interesting products, but are also cognizant of their budgets, and discount retailers are helping them find interesting products at agreeable prices.”