Walmart, Lowe's make big change customers will notice right away

One of the busiest times of the year — and not just for our social calendars or school schedules — are the warmer spring months. 

Across the U.S., the weather heats up, which promotes more movement around highly frequented areas such as restaurants and shopping centers. 

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Retailers know this. 

When they aren't blaming bad weather for poor sales, they're often gearing up for warmer weather in the hopes that more customers will come through their doors.

And there are a few ways retailers do this. 

Some leverage inspiring marketing as a ploy to capture more dollars. 

They'll advertise spring as a time for new changes, cleaning, and turnover. Naturally, this means you should feel compelled to clean out your closet and replace it with cooler, brightly colored clothes, say clothing retailers. 

Or maybe it means you should take up a new exercise routine — and purchase new sneakers and running shorts, while you're at it — say sporting goods stores. 

Perhaps it means you should put in fresh landscaping, say home improvement stores.

Retailers look ahead to spring

There are plenty of feel-good springtime holidays retailers routinely promote. 

St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Cinco de Mayo are all cause for sales events that try to capitalize on people having more free time to browse stores or online websites for sales. 

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As a consumer, it may feel like spring is a time for spontaneous renewal (and spontaneous spending), but for retailers, this is a season for which they've been carefully planning for quite a while. 

In fact, the springtime season is typically the next-highest spending period in retail, second only to the busy December holiday shopping push.

Walmart, Lowe's drop early deals

Particularly in 2025, retailers have been promoting big sales during spring as a way to nab choosey consumers before tariffs kick in on many imported goods. 

Such is the case for many of America's largest retailers — both in stores and online. 

Many of these companies such as Walmart  (WMT) , Lowe's  (LOW) , Amazon, and Wayfair often hold annual springtime savings events. 

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This year, however, each company has actually moved anticipated dates for promotions earlier. 

Here's how the schedules have changed: 

• Wayfair: Way Day Sale, April 26-28 (May 4–6 in 2024) 
• Lowe's: Springfest Sale, March 20 to April 16 (about two weeks earlier than in 2024)
• Walmart: Walmart+ Week, April 28 to May 4 (June 17–23 in 2024)
• Amazon: Big Spring Sale, March 25–31 (about one week earlier than in 2024)

This sales front-loading effect isn't a new concept, but it does reflect a big push by both retailers to capitalize on consumers before they feel the squeeze of heftier prices. 

“Consumers are expecting sharply higher prices the next year and are clearing the store shelves and picking up bargains while they can,” FwdBonds chief Economist Christopher Rupkey said.