Target CEO Brian Cornell says shoppers are pulling back, even on groceries, as they feel stressed about their budgets.
In an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick that aired Thursday morning, he emphasized that the retailer has posted seven consecutive quarters of declining sales of discretionary items, such as apparel and toys, in terms of both dollars and units.
“But even in food and beverage categories, over the last few quarters, the units, the number of items they’re buying, has been declining,” he said in the interview.
Not necessarily. That’s only what happens when junk food is cheap. Many companies increased prices of junk food, so people are buying less of it. That’s what this whole article is about.
If someone only has enough money to buy some chicken and potatoes, they’re going to learn to cook real fast. They’re not going to buy junk food. If they have even less, they’ll learn how to soak beans or lentils.
I saw some garbage fake “ice cream” the other day for $5 (the tiny 1.5 quart package). Nobody was buying it. Like three different people came in, looked directly at the ice cream, and left. No wonder units are going down.
Exactly. Healthy food has always been cheaper than unhealthy food. Look at cabbage, carrots, potatoes, etc, all of those bulk veggies are quite inexpensive and you can live very well using those for bulk calories. Even chicken thighs are still relatively cheap (like $1.50/lb or so) because people prefer chicken breast (like $4/lb).
The problem is that inexpensive, healthy food requires cooking. People seem to dislike cooking (or prioritize other things when time is limited), so the cheapest thing that doesn’t require cooking (i.e. just a microwave) is junk food.
I think you could live on $2-3/meal or so with healthy food, and junk food is closer to $5/meal.