representative image istockwalmart inc could face an uphill battle to reclaim us shoppers who opted for the neighborhood dollar store or aldi rather than driving farther to a walmart supercenter when gasoline was usd 5 a gallon while gasoline prices have dropped nearly 20 per cent over the past month there are no signs shoppers are returning to the nations biggest retailer according to foot traffic data reviewed by reuters and analysts inflation remains at a 40year high devouring a large chunk of the grocery budgets of many americans especially walmarts legions of costconscious shoppers advt foot traffic at walmarts 3573 us supercenters and its 370 discount stores as of jan 31 2022 fell 27 per cent on average from june 1 through july 25 versus a year earlier according to data from placerai a location analytics firm meanwhile traffic rose 115 per cent at aldi owned by german discount grocer aldi sud and the number of shopper visits climbed 41 per cent at dollar general the question of how to reverse the loss in foot traffic will likely be a focus for analysts when walmart reports secondquarter earnings on aug 16 it may not be easy or cheap burt flickinger managing director of strategic resource group said walmart needs to invest more in local advertisements to lure people back into stores cutting back on local newspaper ads has become walmarts achilles heel flickinger said if the company wants customers to return walmart must spend more money on highvalue ads that highlight promotions and rollbacks walmart shoppers have a median household income of usd 73000 according to data from numerator a consumer insights firm in june inflation reached 91 per cent a fourdecade record while gasoline prices soared to usd 5006 a gallon on average june 13 up from usd 3161 a year earlier according to the us energy information administration higher gas prices shaved hundreds of dollars off the monthly spending budgets of the typical lowincome american according to several economists advt walmart ceo doug mcmillon has previously characterized the retailer as an inflationfighter and a top destination for shoppers in recessionary periods but walmarts share as the first choice for grocery purchases dropped to 255 per cent in july from 274 per cent in june according to a prosper insights analytics monthly consumer survey cited in a cowen co note mcmillon recently told investors that shoppers especially from lowerincome households bought fewer items in the three months through april 30 even they also consolidated their trips to the store in response to higher fuel prices monthly spending on gas in july rose to 557 per cent of the income of a typical american household which earns usd 5412 per month posttax up from 279 per cent of income in december 2019 according to globaldata poorer households generally spend a bigger portion of their incomes on gas and essentials walmart supercenters which average about 190000 square feet 176516 square meters and sell