Foot traffic went up significantly at warehouse stores in the weeks leading up to the original implementation of tariffs by President Donald Trump and during the week of April 7 when stiff reciprocal tariffs were set to go into effect before a 90-day pause, data shows.
The data from Placer.ai, a firm that uses location analytics to estimate in-person store traffic, showed a sharp increase at warehouse stores, compared to superstores, grocery stores and gas stations and convenience stores, likely as shoppers attempted to get ahead of price increases, the company said.
Similarly, according to a survey of 1,000 consumers by NielsenIQ done in March, 31% of consumers said they were stocking up on groceries in anticipation of tariffs while others said they were expediting non-grocery purchases before tariff-related price increases took effect.
What happened with foot traffic at stores due to tariff worries?
Weekly data from the beginning of the year from Placer.ai, which compared weekly foot traffic to the same week the previous year, shows visits to warehouse clubs were already higher than other retail categories, such as superstores, groceries and gas stations and convenience stores.
Those visits ranged from 6.4% the week of Jan. 6 to a high of 10% the week of Jan. 13 and a low of 2.6% the week of Feb. 17. By comparison, foot traffic at superstores was 2.4% the first week of January, with a high of 6.6% the week of Jan. 13 and a low of -4.3% the week of Feb. 17.
Superstore numbers continued to remain in the negative percentages through March while gas stations and convenience stores also had negative numbers or hovered close to 0 or a high of 1.6% for the week of March 17.
Grocery stores in March ranged from a high of 3.1% the first week of March to a low of -3.9% the week of March 24, though Placer.ai said some stores were closed on Easter last year, which could skew the year-over-year comparison.
But warehouse store foot traffic for the month of March – as consumers were hearing more about impending tariffs and the president’s so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2, when tariffs were supposed to take effect – began to increase.
The month started at 5.1% the week of March 3, dipped to 4.6% and 4% for the next two weeks and spiked 9.7% higher during the week of March 24 as compared to that same period last year, according to Placer.ai data.
The traffic at warehouse stores dipped to -3% the week of March 31, but then climbed to 6.7% again the week of April 7. Stiff reciprocal tariffs were set to go into effect on April 9, though Trump put a a 90-day pause on some of them while maintaining a 10% baseline tariff on all goods imported into the U.S.
Traffic at the warehouse stores dipped to -9% the week of April 14, the latest data available for Placer.ai. The company said certain superstores and warehouses were closed on the Easter holiday which was April 20, while others were open, which could skew numbers.
“While many uncertainties remain around tariff implementation, consumers are likely to increasingly gravitate toward retailers that offer bulk purchasing, strong private label alternatives, and everyday low prices—areas where warehouse clubs and discount grocers with robust private label assortments excel,” Placer.ai said in an April 11 report about the March data.
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Consumers are stocking up
Consumers surveyed by NielsenIQ (NIQ) have said they are stocking up, said Chris Costagli, vice president and food insights lead for NielsenIQ. Costagli has been running a study of about 1,000 consumers monthly since January to gauge their sentiments on a variety of food-buying issues.
Here’s some insights from the March survey:
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Thirty-one percent of consumers said they were stocking up on groceries in anticipation of tariffs (24% on household essentials, 23% on personal care items, 11% on non-alcoholic beverages). But stocking up did not mean stocking up on everything, Costagli told USA TODAY. “Consumers are choosing where to stock up and may be forgoing other purchases as they absorb the immediate stock up costs amidst overall inflationary pricing across their spending ecosystem.”
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Some consumers are expediting non-grocery or household item purchasing as well in anticipation of tariffs driving prices up, Costagli said. 16% have expedited purchasing clothing/accessories, 14% expedited buying electronics, 11% sped up buying furniture, and 9% expedited buying a car. “Purchases like these also result in shoppers absorbing immediate costs that they didn’t necessarily intend on having right now,” Costagli said. That has an impact on available funds to use elsewhere, on other food purchases, he said.
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Thirty-three percent of consumers said they have reduced overall consumption to save money and 37% have made changes to the pack sizes of their purchases, Costagli said.
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Twenty-three percent are buying larger sized packages or bulk sizes to save money in the long run through price per volume efficiencies, and 14% have bought smaller pack sizes at lower unit prices to reduce immediate spending.
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Costagli said lower-income households, or those that make less than $50,000 a year, were most likely to switch towards smaller pack sizes with lower unit prices, while middle-income households ($50,000 to $100,000) were most likely to buy larger sized packs/bulk sizes. Upper-income households, those who make more than $100,000, were more likely to have made no changes, he said.
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Consumers have been stocking up at warehouses as tariff worries loom
