What’s the Story? 

We present select findings from our latest weekly survey of US consumers, undertaken on April 19, 2021. This free report includes analysis of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on shopper behaviors. We explore the trends we are seeing from week to week. Click here to read the full report. Read our previous US Consumer Tracker reports.

1. Consumers Are Buying More Apparel

• The proportion of consumers that reported purchasing clothing or footwear more than pre-pandemic climbed again this week, and now sits at a rate more than double its value four weeks earlier. This category is likely thriving as more consumers receive vaccinations and resume normal work and social lives.

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Figure 1. All Respondents: Proportion Buying More Clothing, Footwear or Fashion Accessories/Jewelry Than Before the Coronavirus Outbreak (% of Respondents) [caption id="attachment_126370" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Base: US respondents aged 18+
Source: Coresight Research [/caption]  

• The proportion of consumers that reported buying clothing and footwear in a store over the past two weeks reached an all-time high this week, exceeding last week’s previous record.
• Online sales did not appear to suffer as a result, as 28% of consumers reported making purchases in the category online, up very slightly from the week prior.

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Figure 2. All Respondents: Proportions That Made Purchases of Clothing, Footwear or Fashion Accessories/Jewelry Online or In-Store in the Past Two Weeks (% of Respondents) [caption id="attachment_126371" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Base: US respondents aged 18+
Source: Coresight Research [/caption]   2. Dollar Tree/Family Dollar Captures More Dollar-Store Shoppers For many survey iterations, the proportion of consumers making purchases at Dollar Tree/Family Dollar and Dollar General tracked very closely. In recent weeks, however, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar has broken away from Dollar General.

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Figure 3. All Respondents: Which Retailers They Have Bought Nonfood Products From in the Past Two Weeks (% of Respondents) [caption id="attachment_126372" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Respondents could select multiple options
Base: US respondents aged 18+
*TJX banners include HomeGoods, Homesense, Marshalls, Sierra and T.J. Maxx
Source: Coresight Research [/caption]   3. High-Income Consumers Are Driving Foodservice Spending

• As recently as late March, the mix of consumers visiting a restaurant was spread largely evenly across income brackets. Since then, the proportion of high-income consumers planning trips has risen by more than 20 percentage points, while the proportion of middle- and low-income consumers has remained largely steady.
• This income split does not appear in consumers’ propensity to visit shops. Between March 22 and April 19, the proportion of consumers visiting both enclosed and open-air shopping malls climbed for all income brackets somewhat evenly. Read our full report for more data on this.

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Figure 4. All Respondents: Proportion That Visited a Restaurant in the Past Two Weeks, by Income (% of Respondents) [caption id="attachment_126373" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Base: US respondents aged 18+
Source: Coresight Research [/caption]