Consumer spending and operating margins have been negatively affected by inflation hitting four-decade highs. Logistic costs and supply chain disruptions have increased due to inflation. Consumer sentiment has been hurt by soaring grocery and gas prices The Federal Reserve has made a 180 degree turn from a year ago when they used the term "transient" to refer to inflation. The rate hikes slowed the pace of inflation, which hit a 40 year high of 9% in June. Everyone is hit by inflation, but not everyone is the same. There is a correlation between consumer spending and industries and peers.

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Rates Rise, Spending Falls

Consumers are adjusting their spending habits because wages are not rising fast. They are taking a hit on disposable income because of the higher interest rates for credit card, loan, and mortgage payments. A material change in consumer sentiment has been caused by the Fed rate hikes. Egg and vegetable items are being passed over for discretionary items. Time gets harder and people reach for the necessities. Lower income households are more affected by the impacts than higher income households. Households with higher incomes are looking for bargains. In the stock market, this can be found as well.

The Haves

The impact of inflation on high-income and wealthier consumers is not as significant. Premium brands feel less pain because their customers can weather inflation better. The company smoked its Q2 earnings with 25%shopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopifyshopify The revenue grew as they beat analyst estimates. They raised their full-year earnings per share guidance to come in between $9.75 to $9.90 versus $9.44 analyst estimates on surging revenues between $7.86 billion to $7.94 billion versus $7.69 billion consensus analyst estimates. Versace is one of the brands owned by the luxury retailer. They saw revenues rise 8.5% and raised their fiscal 2023 earnings per share to $6.85. They expect revenues to go up to $5.90 billion to $5.94 billion, which is higher than the $5.84 billion consensus estimates.

Big and Little Box Retailers

It would make sense for discount retailers to benefit in a downturn. In the month of July, comparable same store sales increased 10% with net sales increasing 10.8%. Volume discounts can be passed on to its members by the scale that it has. The epitome of consumer staple is the grocery store. Kroger is growing earnings and revenues due to food inflation and robust at- home consumption trends as they grew earnings by 12% and revenues by 9% in the second quarter of the year. The private label brands saw a growth of 10.2% in the same store.

Lower-income households are the hardest hit by inflation as discount retailers can't avoid it. The lower-income household demographic customers pulled back on discretionary spending, which hurt the company. The Q2 earnings miss was due to the revenue fall. The company slashed its full-year earnings estimates. Revenue expectations for the full year were guided to fall. The department store sells consumer discretionary items like clothes, toy, and home products, but not necessities like groceries like Target and Walmart. Five Below sells items for $1 to $5 to a majority of teens. They sell mostly candy, toys, novelty items, games, and cosmetics. Their full-year comps had to be lowered. They hope the store-within- a-store prototype will help drive growth. Video games are a discretionary expenditure. As average daily users grew 21% to 52.2 million, the average time spent on the platform increased by 16.6%. It didn't result in more spending as its bookings dropped in the second quarter of the year.

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