Sky-high gas prices may already be causing consumers to cut back on trips to the mall or grocery store.
Nationwide overall retail visits declined by 4.3% for the week-ended March 7 compared to the equivalent week three years ago (aka pre-pandemic), according to new data from Placer.ai. That marks the most severe decline in weekly retail foot traffic over the past 12 months that wasn’t directly tied to COVID-19 spikes or holiday-related calendar shifts, the researcher says.
"Should current trends continue, the rise in retail gas prices is likely to continue to weigh on overall retail traffic — particularly on those retailers that have greater exposure to lower-income consumers where gas makes up a higher percentage of household budgets," Placer.ai's R.J. Hottovy said.
Retail visits for the week ended March 14 only picked back up slightly.
The average national price for gasoline is $4.23, says GasBuddy, up more than 60 cents from a month ago and $1.38 higher than one year earlier.
Consumers have of course taken notice with their daily budgets under siege from gas and food inflation.
The University of Michigan consumer confidence measure for March reached a new low for the year. Personal finances were seen worsening by the largest proportion of survey respondents since the mid-1940s.
"You've got inflation like I've never seen," railed RH CEO Gary Friedman on a Tuesday evening earnings call.
Friedman said sales trends have slowed in the first quarter, in part reflecting the external pressure on shoppers.
Added Friedman, "I don't think anybody really understands what's coming from an inflation point of view, because either businesses are going to make a lot less money or they're going to raise their prices. And I don't think anybody really understands how high prices are going to go everywhere. In restaurants, in cars and everything. I think it's going to outrun the consumer. And I think we're going to be in some tricky space."
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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