Placer.ai sizes up how discount, dollar stores foot traffic is faring

Discount and dollar stores won the hearts of many shoppers during the pandemic — and have since held onto them, according to a recent report from foot traffic analytics firm Placer.ai, titled 2023: The Year of the Discount Store.

The report analyzes data from Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General and Five Below, and notes that the four “were among the biggest foot traffic winners throughout the pandemic and 2022.” It also shows that visits to discount and dollar stores are outpacing visits to shopping centers, grocery stores and superstores as of January 2023. But that’s not new — the sector has been beating the others in terms of foot traffic going back to January 2020, according to the report.

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Key takeaways from Placer.ai’s report:

Leading segment: As noted, discount and dollar stores are leading retail segments and have been for a few years. As of January 2023, visits to the segment were up 19.4% compared to January 2020, whereas none of the other three segments are seeing positive visit numbers.

Year-over-year numbers: During January, visits to three of the four brands were up year-over-year: 10% at Dollar Tree, 3.7% at Family Dollar and 18% at Five Below. Only Dollar General saw a decline, with visits down 3.1%.

Smashing pre-pandemic numbers: Looking at January 2023 compared to January 2020, however, visit numbers are way up: Visits were up 21.2% at Dollar Tree, 19.9% at Family Dollar, 19.2% at Dollar General and 66.6% at Five Below.

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You can find the report here.