Analyst CornerAnalyst Corner: Assessing the Long-Term Tailwinds for US Discounters, with John Mercer John Mercer, Head of Global Research and Managing Director of Retail Research October 18, 2026 Reasons to ReadEach Analyst Corner features highlights and insights from the respective week’s “Report of the Week”—our featured must-read research report. This week, our featured report was Discount Decades: A Shrinking Middle Class Reshapes US Retail. Understand the long-term forces behind discount retail’s market share gains and what they mean for US retail. Read this Analyst Corner to discover answers to these and other questions: How are traditionally “millennial” financial traits migrating to other groups, and why does that support discount demand? How is the erosion in the middle class’s share of total household income extending discount appeal? How is competition from services for discretionary spending reshaping retail’s share of wallet? How is supply-side expansion from discount retailers sustaining growth in the value space? Companies mentioned in this report include: TJX; Dollar General; Aldi; Temu; Ross Stores; Burlington Stores; Dollar Tree; Walmart; Lidl; Primark; Shein. Other relevant research: Discount Decades: A Shrinking Middle Class Reshapes US Retail All Analyst Corners This document was generated for
