|
In
the good old days before the financial crisis struck, trickle-down
prosperity was the rage. But in today's new normal, as My Budget 360 reminds
us in "United
States of Dollar Stores," it's more a
matter of what one might call "trickle-up austerity."
The fastest
growing segment of dollar store customers are coming from those making
$70,000 a year or more. In fact, 1 out of 5 dollar store shoppers come
from this group. Keep in mind the median household income in the US is
$50,000 and those that make $70,000 a year or more are in the top 35 percent
of households.
...
The rise of the
dollar store goes hand and hand with the loss of the middle class in
America. The largest customers at dollar stores are still those with
lower incomes, households making $40,000 a year or less make up nearly half
the customer base. But when this pool continues to grow you have
business growth and that is what we are seeing here. The average per
capita income in the US is $25,000 which doesn’t go far given the cost
of healthcare, energy, and education.
It is also
fascinating to see that 40 to 45 percent of dollar store items now come from
big name brand companies. This industry is now a multi-billion dollar
industry. I’ve driven around and see Subway and KFC for example
now having marketing material showing “EBT accepted here” and
dollar stores with a large and growing segment of their aisles made up of by
food, are seeing a boon in this economy. I mean think about it with
45,000,000+ Americans receiving food assistance this is a large customer
base. You also have many retirees who heavily rely only on Social
Security stretching their declining buying power at these stores. Even
with low profit margins business can be good. Not sure if we should be
thrilled that dollar stores are one business segment that is booming in our
modern day economy.
Click here to
read the rest.
Michael J. Panzner
|
