U.S. retail sales rise again as higher prices boost spending
April sales climbed 0.5%, but inflation did part of the work, leaving Walmart stores to handle more price-sensitive shopping and smaller baskets.
Higher prices kept April retail sales moving up, but the headline masked a weaker picture underneath. U.S. retail and food services sales reached $757.1 billion, up 0.5% from March and 4.9% from a year earlier, while economists estimated inflation-adjusted sales slipped 0.1% on the month.
The Census Bureau also revised March sales growth to 1.6% from 1.7%, and said retail and food services sales for February through April were 4.4% higher than the same stretch a year earlier. Retail trade sales rose 0.5% from March and 5.2% from April 2025, a sign that the dollar totals are still climbing even as the buying power behind them looks uneven.
That gap matters on Walmart’s sales floor. When prices do part of the heavy lifting, customers often keep coming in but buy differently, with smaller baskets, more trade-down to value items, and more pressure on associates to help shoppers find the cheapest acceptable substitute fast. Nonstore retailers were up 11.1% from last year, gasoline-station receipts rose 2.8% in April, and food services and drinking places gained 0.6%, all signs that spending is shifting across channels and categories rather than simply growing everywhere at once.
The broader backdrop is a K-shaped economy, with higher-income households still supported by a strong equity market and lower-income consumers under more strain. Tax refunds have helped cushion some families, but savings rates were near a 3.5-year low, and imported inflation rose at its fastest pace in four years. Gasoline prices jumped 12.3% in April. That mix can show up at store level as more customers hunting clearance, more questions about private-label options, and more frustration directed at workers who are dealing with conditions set far beyond the store.
Walmart has been leaning hard into that value message. In its February 19 fourth-quarter earnings release, the company said value and convenience in its omnichannel strategy continued to resonate, with global eCommerce up 24% and Walmart U.S. eCommerce up 27%. In its April 23 annual report, the company said FY26 revenue grew 5.1% in constant currency and adjusted profit grew 5.4%, in John Furner’s first shareholder letter as CEO. For associates and managers, the takeaway is clear: the company is built to benefit when shoppers get more price-conscious, but that also raises the bar on speed, substitution, checkout flow and inventory accuracy when demand is uneven and every dollar matters.
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