As several big chains reported third-quarter results on Tuesday, the divide between hard-pressed and prosperous Americans remained a defining characteristic of the retail economy.
“Clearly it’s a bifurcated market,” said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks, in an interview. “The high-end consumer is much more tied to the stock market and the Dow and how they’re feeling about their personal situation, more so than the lower end of the market,” where concerns about gas prices and unemployment were more prevalent.
Over all, retail sales last month were higher than analysts had expected, rising 0.5 percent, according to the Commerce Department, contributing to the third-quarter results reported Tuesday. But Jay H. Bryson, an economist at Wells Fargo, predicted that the growth would soon slow as consumers stop using their savings, rather than their income, to pay for goods.
“Growth in nominal income is relatively weak,” Mr. Bryson wrote in a note to clients, and “the increase in food and energy prices over the past year has eroded consumer purchasing power.”
Wal-Mart, the country’s biggest retailer, said it had posted a quarterly increase in sales at stores open at least a year after nine consecutive quarters of declines in that important measure. But its third-quarter profit took a hit as the retailer chose not to pass on all of its price increases to consumers.
Company executives said they were not confident that Wal-Mart shoppers could afford more expensive goods.
“Our customers are still feeling pressured to reduce expenses wherever they can,” said William S. Simon, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart United States. “Cost increases in numerous categories were not passed on to our customers in the form of increased prices.”
At the other end of the retail spectrum, Saks said Tuesday that its revenue had risen 5 percent, to $692.3 million, from the same quarter a year ago. Its same-store sales, sales for stores open at least a year, rose 5.8 percent.
“Full-price selling is at record levels,” Mr. Sadove said. “We’re now in a less promotional environment than we were before the recession.”
At Saks, profit fell by 51 percent, to $17.8 million, in the quarter. But that was a tough comparison with the third quarter of 2010, when profit was pumped up by a gain related to tax reserves.
Some areas where Saks had placed big inventory bets, like shoes, turned out particularly well in the quarter, he said.
“If you look at it in the first half of the year, our same-store sales were up 13 percent,” Mr. Sadove said. “If you look at the third quarter, it was not quite as strong as you saw in the first half of the year. Maybe that was tempered by the stock market volatility. Having said that, you still had very strong consumption on the part of the luxury consumer — it wasn’t as though it was flailing about.”
Mr. Simon said Wal-Mart shoppers seemed especially worried about food prices — Wal-Mart’s food costs rose 4 percent over the last quarter, though it passed on “substantially less” to consumers via grocery prices.
“We hear from some shoppers that they believe it will be more difficult than ever to afford holiday meals for their families,” he said. “We understand their concern, and we see it every month in our customers’ purchasing behavior.”
In another sign of tight consumer budgets, Wal-Mart’s layaway program for holiday gifts, which it began offering in October after a hiatus of several years, has exceeded projections for the number of layaway transactions so far.
“This is one of the top areas that the customer had asked us to bring back to help meet their needs for the holiday season,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president and treasurer, in a call with reporters. “What we have seen is, once again, this bevy of activity out there particularly in layaway and the traffic it brings to our stores.”
Wal-Mart said its domestic same-store sales increased by 1.3 percent, above its projections. That compared with a 1.3 percent decline in the same quarter a year ago.
However, profit fell 2.9 percent from a year ago to $3.3 billion, below analysts’ expectations.
Executives said that while visits to Wal-Mart’s stores in the United States fell from the same quarter a year ago, shoppers were spending more each visit. Net sales domestically increased 2.7 percent to $63.8 billion.
Home Depot executives said that although the housing market showed little buoyancy, its customers were spending a bit more on refurbishing their homes.
The average ticket, or amount on a receipt, grew 3 percent in the quarter from the same period in 2010, while transactions increased by 1.2 percent.
Part of that was related to the storms in recent months, with people buying expensive items like generators and roofing supplies. But they were also spending on areas like kitchens. “Our consumers continue to want to maintain their homes,” chief financial officer Carol B. Tomé said in an interview.
Home Depot posted a profit of 60 cents a share on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations of 58 to 59 cents a share. Its sales rose 4.4 percent to $17.3 billion, and it had a 4.2 percent increase in same-store sales.
Whether their consumers are feeling pressured or flush now, the retail executives indicated they did not expect things to change soon.
“In the U.S., we still do not see, and do not expect to see in the near term, any meaningful tailwind from the housing market,” said Frank Blake, Home Depot’s chairman and chief executive.
“I feel good about the luxury consumer,” Mr. Sadove of Saks said.
Referring to the Wal-Mart shopper’s dependence on paychecks and government-assistance payments rather than savings, Mr. Davis said that “going forward we really would not expect anything different.”
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