Walmart officials are already putting a wet blanket on expectations for Christmas spending as they are cautioning that customers are putting their money to food and necessities and far less to toys and luxury items in this era of rampant Bidenflation.
“The most important thing for people this holiday is to have food on the table for their families,” Isaac Larian, CEO of Bratz doll maker MGA Entertainment, said in an interview.
Per Reuters:
Walmart (WMT.N) on Thursday said U.S. consumers are acting more cautious with spending as the holiday season gets underway, even as the largest U.S. retailer raised its forecast for sales and profit for the year.
The company’s shares fell 7.7% Thursday as executives said higher interest rates and dwindling household savings have made sales “somewhat uneven” over the past two months.
Walmart’s bigger focus on groceries has provided a bulwark against the broad slowdown in discretionary spending with more than half of the company’s merchandise comprising of food and other daily essentials.
Walmart’s Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told Reuters the company saw shoppers slow purchases in the second half of October, but rebound in early November on items including apparel and home goods that have been out of favor for most of the year.
Toy makers are also worried that the Christmas of 2023 is not going to be so great for them.
In a separate article, Reuters reported the words of Bratz doll CEO Isaac Larian.
“The most important thing for people this holiday is to have food on the table for their families,” Isaac Larian, CEO of Bratz doll maker MGA Entertainment, said in an interview.
Mattel and Hasbro are also not expecting gangbusters for 2023.
“We have a cautious outlook on the holiday,” CEO Chris Cocks said during Hasbro’s earnings call Thursday. “We do not have a real solid view on where the market will go.”
It is already looking like the U.S. is heading to a dismal Christmas.
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