Good Times for the Consumer Economy Come to an End
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For the past year, pretty much every retail and consumer sector has been winning.
Stay-at-home trends hadn’t completely faded, so people were still spending on baking supplies and DIY tools. At the same time, cities and towns were opening back up, and shoppers were buying clothes and beauty products (teeth whiteners, anyone?) with a vengeance.
Now, the good times for retail are coming to an end. But it’s not entirely clear whether this is due to changing consumer habits — i.e., the “Great Rotation” away from pandemic habits to those associated with open economies — or to soaring inflation.
That makes it very hard for retailers, investors and policymakers to know what’s going on with consumers and household balance sheets.
Some categories are clear victims of the pivot from pandemic trends. Peloton Interactive Inc., for example, went into a backspin as its riders returned to the…
