When Walmart CEO Doug McMillon went to the White House last week, he said he gave a clear message: Americans urgently need another round of stimulus checks.
Walmart stores and websites reflect consumer consumption patterns, the retail head said in an interview with CNBC’s Courtney Reagan on “Squawk Alley”. The company realized when it stocked up on food and cleaning products early in the Covid pandemic and gravitated towards bicycles, puzzles and hair dye while being stranded at home.
When consumers received the latest stimulus checks at the end of the year, he said a new pattern has emerged: more buyers invest the extra dollars in their needs.
“We can see in our customer behavior that some customers – when receiving this most recent stimulus – are spending more on basic products, more on private brands, smaller packages, things like that, as opposed to some of the stimulus dollars that came out at the beginning of the last year, which was spent more like tax-exempt checks, where people bought televisions and things to have fun at home, “he said. “There is a small change in the mix now and we think it reflects the fact that customers need some help.”
McMillon met with President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last Tuesday, along with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Gap CEO Sonia Syngal, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison and Chamber of Commerce Tom Donohue from the USA. He said he asked American families and small businesses for help during the meeting.
Congress and the Biden government are working on a coronavirus relief bill that could send another direct payment to millions of Americans in order to keep families afloat and help boost an economy hurt by the global health crisis. On Thursday, the Department of Labor reported that unemployment records for the first time rose to a total of 861,000 Last week. That was higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 773,000.
The current bill calls for direct payments of $ 1,400 per individual, or $ 2,800 per couple, plus $ 1,400 for children and dependent adults – but lawmakers are still working out a deal and the numbers may change.
If approved, it would be the third direct payment to Americans since the pandemic began and the biggest check so far. The government sent payments of up to $ 1,200 in the spring and another of up to $ 600 in December, but the amounts and eligibility were based on a person’s income.
As a large retailer, Walmart would benefit if customers had more money in their pockets. Her chief financial officer, Brett Biggs, told CNBC that her fourth-quarter tax profits increased with stimulus payments and that she would expect similar results if consumers received another check.
However, McMillon said he emphasized stimulus checks during his visit to the Oval Office because of what he saw and heard in the company’s stores. He said that some families face increasingly difficult financial circumstances as they struggle to find work.
McMillon said he recently spoke to a customer who was trying to stretch $ 20 to cover all of his expenses for the last week of the month, for gasoline groceries.
“These customers are the ones that the stimulus package needs to help and help quickly,” he said.
– CNBC’s Courtney Reagan contributed to this report.