Alcone Marketing Group – Consumer Lab

Upscale Shoppers Lead Costco Pilgrimage – MarketingVOX

As the economy weakens, traffic at club stores targeting budget-conscious shoppers has increased at a rate faster than US population growth — with upscale consumers driving the increase, according to new data from Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI), writes Retailer Daily.

The number of people that shop at club stores like Costco, B.J.’s and Sam’s Club increased 3.6 percent from September 2006 to April 2008, while the total adult population increased just over 1 percent in the same time period, according to MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer.

Filed under: affluent, Consumer, economy, shopping

MediaPost Publications – As Supercenters Gain, Wal-Mart Still Attracts The Affluent – 08/13/2008

While the limping economy has hurt most retailers, Wal-Mart continues to be a big beneficiary. A new report
from Information Resources Inc. finds that the Bentonville, Ark.-based company is posting market-share gains in an impressive 84% of the top 100 consumer-product goods categories.

While lower- and middle-income shoppers increased their spending at Wal-Mart when the economy started to soften, the report finds that the bigger change has been upper-income consumers who have flocked to
Wal-Mart in the last six months, as gas prices soared.

Filed under: affluent, Consumer, economy, shopping