Consumers move from Wal-Mart to earlier stores

Chicago: As the US economy improves, more of the shoppers who flocked to Wal-Mart to save money during the recession are moving back to the stores they frequented before, a new survey showed on Friday.

In a survey by America's Research Group, 33 per cent of people who shopped more at the world's largest retailer in the last two years said they are now moving back to where they used to shop, at least to some extent. Almost 63 per cent said they were staying at Wal-Mart.

But a year ago, the number of consumers who said they were going back to stores they had shopped at previously was only about 20 per cent, according to Britt Beemer, founder of consumer research firm America's Research Group.

"The consumer is starting to fall away in some categories," Beemer said, adding some shoppers may still be buying some basics at Wal-Mart Stores Inc, but shopping elsewhere for certain clothes and other items.

Wal-Mart's chief operating office Bill Simon said at an investor conference the company has held on to the new customers it attracted in 2008 during the middle of the recession.

Survey

America's Research Group asked several questions for Reuters as part of a larger survey the firm conducted on March 5 to 10, interviewing 1,000 participants.

In other questions, 30.8 per cent of consumers said they felt better about their own economic circumstances than they did three months ago, 47.2 per cent felt the same and 21.7 per cent felt worse.

On Friday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers showed US consumer sentiment declined slightly in early March, with Americans less positive about the job outlook.