Walmart missed its earnings target for the latest quarter (Q2), with the company reporting increased costs, including job cuts and charges related to worker and shopper injury claims, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Walmart “reported a charge of $450 million related to settlements over worker and shopper injury claims. The volume of claims isn’t increasing, but the cost of each is,” according to the Journal.
Some shoppers are pulling back on spending due to tariff-driven price increases, but the retailer is absorbing enough of the cost to keep its price hikes lower than the national average, the company said.
Of the products Walmart sells in the United States, about a third come from overseas, wrote the Journal. Because of tariffs, the company is raising prices on about 10% of the goods it imports, absorbing the rest of the elevated cost, Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said in an interview.
The company’s U.S. comparable sales, those from stores and digital channels in operation for at least 12 months, rose 4.6% in the three-month period ended August 1, per the Journal.
To avoid tariff increases, Walmart continues to place early orders on items it thinks will sell well. Meanwhile, it is ordering less of some higher-priced items subject to higher levies that shoppers are likely to pull back on, said Rainey.
Walmart expects current shopping habits to persist through the third and fourth quarters, reported Reuters. “Middle- and lower-income households are making noticeable adjustments in response to rising prices, either by reducing the number of items in their baskets or by opting for private-label brands. This shift has not been seen among higher-income households, which Walmart defines as those earning over $100,000 annually,” Reuters wrote, citing Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.
In May, Walmart said it would need to raise prices for goods affected by tariffs, and that some of those higher price tags had already hit shelves.