As Americans struggle with the cost of living, many are turning to Walmart to save. The discount retailer said it\u2019s especially seeing growth among higher-income shoppers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of our share gains came from households making more than $100,000,\u201d John Furner, who took over as CEO at the start of February, said Thursday morning on a call with Wall Street analysts. \u201cFor households earning below $50,000, we continue to see that wallets are stretched. And in some cases, people are managing spending paycheck to paycheck.\u201d<\/p>\n
It aligns with a pattern experts are calling a K-shaped economy<\/a>. The wealthy, benefiting from stock market gains and higher wage growth, are driving an outsize share of consumer spending.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, many on the lower end of the \u201cK\u201d are finding their paychecks can\u2019t keep up with rising costs of food, housing, utilities and child care, even with wage growth.<\/p>\n Labor market data released earlier this month showed the U.S. added almost no jobs<\/a> in 2025, and while hiring appeared solid in January, the jury\u2019s still out on whether more robust job growth will return. Prices in January rose 2.4%<\/a> compared with a year earlier, higher than the Federal Reserve\u2019s 2% target but at a slower rate than in the past few months.<\/p>\n Walmart, which has a reputation for discounts, is traditionally seen as a bellwether for the U.S. economy and consumer confidence. On Thursday, executives pointed to a so-called hiring recession, lower consumer sentiment and student loan delinquencies as reasons to be cautious about the future.<\/p>\n Other retailers that also traditionally cater to lower-income Americans are seeing more growth among higher-income shoppers and are increasingly reliant on them.<\/p>\n Dollar Tree said at the end of last year that around 60% of its new shoppers came from households earning more than $100,000. Discount grocer Aldi<\/a> has been drawing in higher-income shoppers seeking value \u2014 and plans to open 180 new stores<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n Consumers have also had to navigate price hikes on many goods as a result of President Donald Trump\u2019s wide-ranging tariffs on major U.S. trading partners. An analysis<\/a> last week from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found consumers and businesses paid nearly 90% of the tariff costs.<\/p>\n But Walmart\u2019s chief financial officer, John David Rainey, said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg<\/a> that tariff-driven inflation has reached or is reaching its peak. That\u2019s a big contrast to comments last month from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who said in an interview with CNBC<\/a> that tariffs are starting to \u201ccreep into some of the prices.\u201d<\/p>\n Walmart announced Thursday that same-store sales for its Walmart U.S. business rose 4.6% in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, exceeding analysts\u2019 expectations. The company\u2019s stock fell nearly 1.4%, as its profit forecast for the year came in under Wall Street\u2019s estimates.<\/p>\n Walmart earlier this month hit a major milestone: It became the first traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to reach a $1 trillion market valuation<\/a>, joining a handful of other U.S. companies, mostly in tech.<\/p>\n But on Thursday, it lost its status as the biggest global company<\/a> by revenue to rival Amazon. Fortune also said Thursday<\/a> that Amazon would overtake Walmart as the top company on the Fortune 500 list.<\/p>\n Walmart has recently made moves<\/a> to position itself as a tech-forward competitor to Amazon, switching from trading on the New York Stock Exchange to the tech-heavy Nasdaq<\/a> in December and investing more in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n