More Shoppers Heading to Discount Giant for Electronics, Home Improvement & Grocery Items

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - May 6, 2008) - Higher gas and grocery prices coupled with an uncertain economic environment are driving more consumers to Wal-Mart for electronics, home improvement and groceries according to the April Retail Ratings Report from BIGresearch (http://www.bigresearch.com).

For the Electronics category, Wal-Mart had the highest year over year growth in share of consumers that shop there most often for electronics, with 16% vs. 15%. This growth gives Wal-Mart a Consumer Equity Index™ (CEI)* score of 107.15 in the April Ratings. Best Buy saw a slight decrease in share from 28.6% in April 07 to 27.7% in April 2008 making their CEI 96.88. *CEI measures growth in share year over year. An index of 100 is flat, while an index of 105 indicates 5% growth.

Home Depot continues to lead in the Home Improvement sector, but share of preference declined from 28.6% in April 2007 to 27.6% in 08 with a CEI of 96.39. Second place Lowe's remains flat with a CEI of 100.46, while third place Wal-Mart experienced relatively substantial share growth year over year with a CEI of 111.97.

Wal-Mart maintains a strong lead in the Groceries category as consumer share increased to 15.3% from 13.6% in 2007. #2 Kroger marginally weakens with a CEI rating of 96.81 and #3 Publix experienced a steeper decline (83.98).

Wal-Mart is also picking up grocery shoppers with higher incomes. Among households who report an income greater than $50K, Wal-Mart's share of preference as a grocer increased from 12.3% in 2007 to 13.5% in 2008.

Groceries (Shop at Most Often) - $50K+ Income

              Share       Share        Share
Store         Apr. 2007   Apr. 2008    +/-     CEI
Wal-Mart      12.3%       13.5%        1.1    109.04
Stop 'n Shop  2.3%        2.6%         0.3    114.26
Publix        4.3%        4.4%         0.0    100.98
Shoprite      2.9%        2.9%         0.0    100.84
Giant Eagle   1.9%        1.9%         0.0    100.47
Meijer        2.5%        2.5%         0.0     99.72
Costco        2.1%        1.9%        -0.1     93.73
Kroger        6.6%        6.4%        -0.2     97.44
Safeway       3.6%        3.2%        -0.5     87.44
Albertsons    2.7%        2.1%        -0.6     78.57

BIGresearch's Retail Ratings Reports (RRR) are available monthly for 12 major merchandise categories. They are developed from BIGresearch's monthly Consumer Intentions & Actions (CIA) Survey of over 7,500 online interviews. For a sample of the April report for Electronics (all consumers and those with household incomes less than $50,000), please click the following link: http://info.bigresearch.com/.

About BIGresearch

BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive, and media. They conduct the Consumer Intentions and Actions (CIA) Survey which monitors the pulse of more than 7,500 consumers each month. The CIA delivers fresh, demand-based information on where the retail consumer is shopping and their changing behavior. They also conduct the Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) which monitors over 15,000 consumers each month.

Contact Information: Contact: Chrissy Wissinger BIGresearch 450 West Wilson Bridge Road Suite 370 Worthington, Ohio 43085 (614) 846-0146