on behavior at a Walmart store around midnight
at the end of a month:
“The paycheck cycle we’ve talked about before remains extreme. It is
our responsibility to figure out how to sell in that environment,
adjusting pack sizes, large pack at sizes the beginning of the month,
small pack sizes at the end of the month. And to figure out how to deal
with what is an ever-increasing amount of transactions being paid for
with government assistance.
“And you need not go further than one of our stores on midnight at
the end of the month. And it’s real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m.,
customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with
basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs, and continue to shop and
mill about the store until midnight, when electronic — government
electronic benefits cards get activated and then the checkout starts and
occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the
month are substantially and significantly higher.
“And if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out
in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it,
and they’ve been waiting for it. Otherwise, we are open 24 hours — come
at 5 a.m., come at 7 a.m., come at 10 a.m. But if you are there at
midnight, you are there for a reason.”
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