Walmart executives believe it’s hard to forecast customer behavior for next year
Top Walmart officials warned on Wednesday that it will be harder to forecast customer behavior in the upcoming year. As customers become more frugal with their purchasing due to financial distress.
CEO John David Rainey stated at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference. That the retail bellwether noticed “unusual kind of behavior” from customers. Which “made us sit up in our chair” regarding the health of the consumer as well as what their purchasing habits were.
Although Rainey described the amount spent in the latter two weeks of October as “puzzling” in comparison to previous months. The store did not mean to sound “alarmist” in any manner.
When Walmart initially hinted at October expenditure during their quarterly reporting on Nov. 16, its shares fell 8%.
Rainey also stated during the conference that the seller is not affected by deflation prices or “what we have seen in the consumer” when it comes to long-term planning.
In a CNBC talk earlier this Wednesday, CEO Doug McMillon stated that declining household bank accounts. Growing credit card debt do create concerns about how much money customers will be spending.
Walmart said last month that American shoppers were becoming more frugal with their Christmas purchasing. However, statistics from the weekend of Thanksgiving revealed that buyers were enticed to spend huge discounts on a wide range of items, including electronics, items to play with, and cosmetic goods, which relieved concerned businesses.
