Target announced last month that although total sales were only 0.5% higher in the last quarter as compared to the same quarter a year ago, food and beverage sales were up in the high single digits. It’s a trend Target hopes will continue as they try to increase grocery revenues.
Last year only 21% of Target’s revenue was tied to groceries, compared to 60% for Walmart. And Walmart is a tough competitor. According to a Reuters report, Dataweave looked at prices of nearly 600 name-brand products covering 34 categories including coffee, soup, cereal, baking goods, batteries, personal care items, pet food and more. During the period between January 2022 and February 2023, inflation averaged 7.5%, but Walmart’s prices only increased by 3%. Prices for the same products increased by 7.5% at Amazon and 9% at both Kroger and Target.
Dataweave also looked at a sample grocery basket of 10 food items during that time period. Walmart’s prices were 4.6% lower than Target, 14.8% lower than Kroger, and 17% lower than Amazon.