Amazon, Starbucks, and McDonald's executives say US consumers are becoming more prudent with their spending — now looking for deals, seeking lower priced items, and being more particular about where they spend their money.
Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said, “Customers in the US are being very thoughtful about their spend. They look for deals, they trade down and look for lower ASP products.” He added that customers were buying “a lot more consumables and everyday essentials,” which tend to be cheaper.
Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said, “We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer, particularly with our more occasional customer,” noting that it had affected traffic and sales across the industry. “Many customers are being more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money, particularly with stimulus savings mostly spent.” (Mostly spent? LOL. How long does he think that $1200 lasted?)
McDonald's CFO Ian Borden said, “The consumer is price weary. Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers or consumers that are certainly visiting less frequently.”
RBI CEO Joshua Kobza (RBI owns Burger King and Popeyes) said, “We've seen consumers become a bit more sensitive to price, resulting in moderating check growth.”
Or maybe the true story is that consumers have ALWAYS been prudent with their spending, and these corporations simply took their price increases too far so people went elsewhere. Maybe the country is NOT headed into a recession and we're all just sick of your price gouging.