CINCINNATI — If gas prices are pinching your wallet and suddenly making you look carefully at every purchase you make, Target is offering consumers some relief.
It's not out of generosity, but necessity.
The retailer is slashing prices on bigger-ticket items that it ordered during the pandemic to fill those bare shelves, but is now stuck with.
Other retailers may soon follow if consumers continue to close their purses.
Consumers end their pandemic shopping binge
It seems that after two years of a stimulus check-fueled shopping binge, consumers are putting on the brakes.
Those $1,400 "stimmy checks" are long gone and probably never returning.
Instead, soaring gas prices and grocery store inflation have millions of shoppers now watching every dollar they spend.
That's left Target with a record $15 billion in unsold inventory, according to the store.
So Target said it is slashing the prices on hundreds of items.
The retailer says many of the deepest discounts will be in:
- Home decor
- Furniture
- Small appliances
- Spring and summer fashion
Specific markdowns
While the store is not listing all the items with deep discounts, you can look over their site's clearance section to see specific sales and markdowns, which include 50% discounts on some items for the home or apartment.
According to The Daily Mail, markdowns include:
- A patio set that was $409 and is now just $267.
- A Vizio 40 inch Smart TV that was $249, marked down to $199.
- A PowerXL Air Fryer that was $119, for $59.
This could be harbinger of things to come at other retailers, analysts said, because stores ordered billions of dollars of products to fill those empty shelves during the pandemic.
Now those products are in, but the shoppers are not.
If gas prices continue to rise, look for consumers to cut back on their shopping, which will mean ore even more deals in the months ahead.
That way you don't waste your money.
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