Dollar General says its new high-income shoppers are ‘making more trips and spending more’

In turn, Vasos said a key focus for the retailer going forward will be retaining these new customers. This influx of new customers has helped Dollar General report sales gains even while its core consumer feels constrained. Vasos said a recent survey of Dollar General customers revealed that 25% of them “reported having less income than they did a year ago, and nearly 60% of our core customers noted that they felt the need to sacrifice on necessities in the coming year.” 

During the first quarter, Dollar General net sales increased 5.3% to $10.4 billion. Same-store sales, meanwhile, increased 2.4%. 

Dollar General ended up raising its guidance for the year — it now expects net sales growth of approximately 3.7-4.7%, compared to its previous guidance of 3.4-4.4%. However, the company warned in its earnings release that, “while the company’s first-quarter 2025 financial results exceeded its internal expectations, uncertainty exists for the remainder of the year. 

The company said that the new guidance “assumes the company will be able to mitigate a significant portion of the potential impact to its cost of goods from tariffs at currently implemented rates, but that consumer spending could be pressured by tariff-related price increases.”

During the first quarter, Dollar General said it saw positive comp sales in consumables, seasonal home and apparel. Vasos also said he believes Dollar General’s “everyday low price position” relative to other retailers has helped it acquire more new customers. He said Dollar General’s goal is to be priced within three to four percentage points of mass retailers, on average, and that Dollar General continues to offer at least 2,000 SKUs at or below $1.

BMO Capital Markets Analyst Kelly Bania said that what’s also helped Dollar General compared to other retailers is that “they are just executing better.” In May 2024, Dollar General said it was undergoing what it characterizes as a “refreshed approach” to “back to basics.” Dollar General plans to renovate approximately 4,250 stores to varying degrees this year, for example, and has raised its average hourly wage to reduce employee turnover at stores. The company has also invested in supply chain improvements.

In turn, “when you go into stores, the in-store experience is better,” Bania said.

During the earnings call, Vasos was asked if Dollar General was considering making any tweaks to its marketing and customer acquisition strategies to acquire more mid- to high-income customers through non-organic efforts.

Vasos noted that the “overall assessment was correct” that, up until this point, Dollar General has acquired many of these mid- to high-income shoppers organically. However, he pointed to the company’s recent DoorDash partnership and its retail media network as two efforts that have aided in “attracting a new and diverse customer base than what we normally have.”

While Dollar General has offered delivery through DoorDash for years, last September it began offering its own white-label same-day delivery service, in partnership with DoorDash, through 75 stores. Vasos said the incrementality on this has been better than expected, and it has continued to grow the program. The companies have also said that more than 16,000 of Dollar General’s stores on the DoorDash marketplace accept SNAP/EBT online payments.

Bania noted that the growth through these types of offerings is “very early stage, in our opinion.” And during the earnings call, Vasos, for his part, noted that acquiring these new customers is just one part of the equation.

“What we’re working on right now, as you would imagine from Dollar General, is: What does that future look like?” Vasos said. “And that is: How do we retain this trade-in consumer that we’ve been blessed with?”

This story has been updated to correct the date that the earnings call was held.