What Wal-Mart Knows About America

Sept. 13, 2007 — -- Check out some of the interesting information Wal-Mart knows about American society based on our shopping habits.

1. What's so special about the state of Pennsylvania? Its residents drink five times more tea than anywhere else in the nation.

2. How do Americans like to drink their milk? As a nation we favor 2 percent milk, but Southeastern states still prefer whole milk -- the only part of the country that does.

3. How do Americans like their eggs? We're divided. If you live in the Northeast, chances are you prefer brown eggs. Elsewhere in the nation, you prefer to buy white eggs.

4. How do states differ when it comes to breakfast purchases? Texas prefers doughnuts, while the Northeast loves its bagels.

5. What do Wal-Mart customers prefer when it comes to music? Country music remains tops in sales, followed by rock/pop, but Wal-Mart is seeing growing sales of Latino music.

6. What's hot in toy sales? Wal-Mart is seeing spiking sales in bilingual toys, hinting at the growing diversity of our nation. Top movies generally go hand-in-hand with top toy picks. Spiderman and Transformer toys are expected to do very well this holiday season.

7. What states buy the most pet accessories? Florida is No. 1 for dog acccessory purchases and Nebraska is No. 1 for cat accessory purchases.

8. What do women most like to purchase? Hoodies and casual dress shoes.

9. Women's feet are generally growing larger. While 8½ has been the most popular size for some time, demand is growing for size 10 and 11 shoes for women.

10. Most popular day of the week to shop: Saturday.

11. Most popular time of the month to shop: the first of the month, after we've been paid.

12. Cash remains the top way of paying for purchases, but the use of debit cards is rising dramatically.