It’s hard to tell. Car sales slowed last month and retailers across the board have surplus inventories now.
A lot of this stuff is going to have be discounted to move, hence Target cutting its outlook to 2%, then growing to 6% in the “back half” of the year. That 6% figure is healthy for the fall and winter, and actually above pre-pandemic levels - what you’re looking out for.
What I am hoping for is in the meantime, this summer season, is that consumers become more selective and pullback, and bring some power back to the consumer making retailers have to compete for less dollars. It would actually be good to see retailers like target coming in with a loss from the summer season.
