Business | Supermarket crash

Shares in America’s big retailers swoon

Rising costs catch up with Walmart and Target

Workers clear debris from a Walmart store parking lot following a tornado in Round Rock, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. There were 22 reports of tornadoes, mainly across eastern Texas, as well as one in Oklahoma, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images

May 19th 2022

Walmart went from strength to strength during the covid-19 pandemic. Its years-long investments in online fulfilment finally began to pay off as virus-wary shoppers swapped aisles for apps. As inflation picked up initially, its “everyday low prices” looked even more appealing than usual. And investors appeared to believe that it had the power to make those prices a bit less low, passing its own rising costs without putting off shoppers or sacrificing margins.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Supermarket crash”