Spring sales at Lowe’s, Walmart and Wayfair are earlier this year amid a crucial time for retail

Walmart+ Week, an event offering additional perks to members of Walmart’s membership rather than product-specific deals, is April 28 to May 4 this year, whereas last year, it was held more than a month later, from June 17 to June 23. The event — this year more focused on saving customers money on “everyday needs” — includes 50 cents off per gallon of fuel instead of the typical 10 cents off, one free one-hour delivery and extra store credit for taking advantage of offers, among other offers.

It’s hard to tell whether or not the threat of tariffs or any other geopolitical uncertainty played a role in the timing of these spring events. Some are planned months in advance, so it’s possible retailers scheduled them because Easter is later this year, and they wanted to space them out from that holiday and Mother’s Day in May. Still, if current events weren’t involved in the decision-making, these sales hold significance as some of the last shopping events before the 90-day pause on steeper tariffs scheduled to end in early July, pending any further pauses or cuts. After that, retailers may have to raise prices and could see a drop in demand.

“This year, sales are taking on a more critical importance because of the tariff pressures that are facing retail and the consumer economy at large, with consumers feeling a lot of dread over what’s coming,” said Sky Canaves, eMarketer’s principal retail and e-commerce analyst, adding that there’s more uncertainty clouding the second half of the year. “Retailers are going to want to capture any consumer spending they can in this quarter.”

Canaves also said that sales offering lower prices at major retailers could put pressure on other retailers that instead are having to raise prices because of tariffs, such as e-commerce platforms Temu and Shein.

Duleep Rodrigo, consumer and retail leader for KPMG, previously told Modern Retail that some of the earlier sales on outdoor furniture could have been motivated by tariffs and lowered expectations of consumer sentiment for the summer. “You’re starting to see retailers offer some really sweet deals to get some of this inventory off their shelves and start moving product much faster,” Rodrigo said. “You want to capitalize on an environment where people are willing to spend.”

Other promotions appear to be business as usual this year, and Amazon continues to play a big role in setting the agenda for retailers, Canaves said. Amazon’s Big Spring Sale took place this year from March 25 to March 31. Walmart — separate from Walmart+ Week — hosted its Super Savings Week from March 24 to April 1, slightly longer than Amazon’s Big Spring Sale but held during the same week. Contrasting with some of the other spring events, Amazon’s and Walmart’s competing March sales were actually slightly later this year.

A Walmart spokesperson said the retailer had been planning for a spring launch since January 2025, and that the retailer moved the timing of the event up this year to set it apart from other summer deal events in the industry. Wayfair declined to comment on why its event is earlier, as the company is in a quiet period before its earnings release May 1. A Lowe’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“For larger retailers, it’s hard for them to be nimble; most of these calendars are are set out way far in advance,” said Gartner director analyst Brad Jashinsky, who consults retail marketing leaders. He added that he’s seen some smaller direct-to-consumer brands put on pre-tariff sales but has yet to see major retailers dip into that for two reasons.

“One, the political climate; but also, even bigger, is that these are big ships to try to turn around that quickly. Any type of decisions that we see coming off of these [tariffs] are going to be a little later in the year for most major retailers, because they’ve already made these merchandising decisions, already brought in inventory and already set a lot of these prices many months in advance.”

Jashinsky said retail leaders are weighing whether or not to discount inventory now while consumers are still in the market. Some car dealerships have promoted “tariff sales,” similarly to what some of the smaller DTC startups have tried, but that has yet to trickle into other sectors of retail.

“I haven’t seen sales messaging as much along those lines,” Jashinsky said. “I think that’s due to a worry that overly discounting now may lead to not having the [necessary] inventory to sustain throughout the rest of the year.”