Target, Home Goods and home improvement stores see increased foot traffic

Los Altos, Calif. — Despite omicron concerns and harsh winter weather, several retailers saw increased in-store traffic in January, according to a series of new chain reports from Placer.ai.

Recent data from the location analytics and foot traffic data company covers in-person shopping visits to Walmart, Target, At Home, HomeGoods, Tuesday Morning, Floor & Decor, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Tractor Supply .

The data revealed that Target’s visits last month exceeded pre-pandemic traffic levels, while Walmart’s only exceeded pre-Covid levels in four of the past 11 months. Meanwhile, visits to three home furnishings stores continue to show the momentum that carried them through 2021, and the two major home improvement chains drew strong traffic.

Among the main takeaways:

• Visits to Walmart were down 3.1% in January compared to January 2020, while those to Target were up 6.2%. In fact, Target has attracted more visits than before the pandemic on a monthly basis for 11 consecutive months.

• On a yearly basis, both brands attracted higher traffic. In January, visits to Walmart increased 3.6% from 2021 and 3.9% to Target. Both saw year-over-year traffic gains in December, with Walmart up 10.8% and Target up 9.9%.

• Nonetheless, Walmart remains the market share leader, receiving 74.1% of visits between the two chains while Target accounted for 25.9%. Target puts a bit of a dent in the volume, though. In January 2019, Target captured 24.0% of visits between the two and Walmart had 26.0%.

• Visits to At Home, HomeGoods and Floor & Decor have increased every month of 2021 on a year-over-year (Yo2Y) basis, and consumers continue to walk through the door. Year over year, visits in January were up 2.8% for At Home, 7.3% for HomeGoods and 58.4% for Floor & Decor.

• The story was different for Tuesday Morning, which closed around 30% of its stores before the existing bankruptcy in early 2021. Although the low-cost home furnishings chain saw fewer overall visits, the number of visits per store soared. In January, total visits fell 21.1% on a double basis, but visits per store increased 6.5%. In fact, visits per store have increased every month since July 2021, with the exception of September, when visits were essentially flat year-over-year.

• Traffic from Home Depot increased by 9.3% compared to January 2020 and Lowe’s by 8.5%. Visits from Tractor Supply blew them both out of the water by a whopping 56%.