Value, innovation are key to retailer growth: Goldman Sachs VP

The more earnings that come out from major retail chains, the clearer the picture for US consumers and the broader retail landscape becomes. Though with discount stores reporting consumer spending pullbacks — Dollar General (DG) and Dollar Tree (DLTR) — is there more turbulence ahead for the retail space?

Goldman Sachs Vice President Brooke Roach sits down with Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma at Goldman Sachs' Global Retailing Conference to discuss the current landscape of the consumer, retailers, and more.

"One of the things that we've seen in retail the last couple of quarters is an acceleration of the bifurcating trends in retail between market share winners, such as off-price and other specific brands that have newness and innovation, that are comping quite positively," Roach says," and a tougher trend in department stores overall, where they've seen negative comp [comparable store sales] trends, they've seen a more cautious outlook on their consumer."

Roach stresses why "value" and "innovation" are key themes that pull companies ahead, specifically before the holiday season when promotions will be a driver of consumer traffic.

Roach elaborates on the difference between lower and middle-income earning consumers and why certain retail stores are pulling ahead of others:

"It's the middle-income consumer that's seeing a little bit lower growth this year in 2024. As we move into 2025, we actually think that that could get a little bit better across the board. But I think there's a more interesting trend behind what we're seeing between some of these retailers... The companies that are performing the best right now, that are gaining market share regardless of price point or value proposition, are doing it through innovation."

Roach and DiPalma reference brands such as Nordstrom (JWN), Macy's (M), Lululemon (LULU), Amer Sports (AS), SharkNinja (SN), and TJX Companies (TJX) to underline these points.

Catch more of Brooke DiPalma's coverage from the 31st Annual Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino