Dollar General Corp.DG

Tax and financial reporting · Financial reporting and accounting standards

New accounting guidance or changes in the interpretation or application of existing accounting guidance could adversely affect our financial performance. The implementation of new accounting standards could require certain systems, internal process and controls and other changes that could increase our operating costs and result in changes to our financial statements.

Tax and financial reporting · Tax compliance and changes in tax law

Additionally, changes in tax laws and policies (including those related to the federal, state or foreign corporate tax rate), the interpretation of existing laws and policies, the expiration of previously available tax credits, or our failure to sustain our reporting positions on examination could adversely affect our overall effective tax rate. The WOTC expired at the end of the 2025 calendar year, and, if not renewed, the expiration is expected to have a significant negative impact on our future earnings per share.

Legal and litigation · Product liability and warranty claims

Product liability, product recall or other product safety or labeling claims could adversely affect our business, reputation and financial performance. We depend on our vendors to ensure that the products we buy from them comply with applicable product safety and labeling laws and regulations and to inform us of all applicable restrictions on the sale of such products.

Legal and litigation · Employment and labor law compliance

New or revised laws, regulations, orders, policies and related interpretations and enforcement practices, particularly those dealing with the sale of products, including without limitation, product and food safety, marketing, labeling or pricing; information security and privacy; labor and employment; employee wages, salary levels and benefits; health and safety; real property; public accommodations; imports and customs; transportation; intellectual property; taxes; bribery and anti-corruption; climate change; and environmental compliance, may significantly increase our expenses or require extensive system and operating changes.

Geopolitical and trade · Government funding and budget changes

Factors that could reduce, and in many cases have reduced, our customers' disposable income include but are not limited to high unemployment or underemployment levels or decline in real wages; inflation; pandemics; higher fuel and energy costs (including those related to the conflict in the Middle East); healthcare, housing and product costs; higher interest rates, consumer debt levels, and tax rates; lack of available credit; tax law changes that negatively affect credits and refunds; tax law changes that negatively affect credits and refunds; and decreases in, or elimination of, government assistance programs or subsidies such as unemployment and food/nutrition assistance programs (for example, changes to the work requirement minimum standards for qualification enacted in 2025, and beginning in January 2026, certain states' exclusion of historically covered product categories), student loan repayment forgiveness, health insurance subsidies, and economic stimulus payments.

Natural and catastrophic events · Climate change and environmental impact

Furthermore, if realized, the long-term impacts of global climate change present the possibility of both physical risks (such as extreme weather conditions or rising sea levels) and transition risks (such as regulatory changes), which may be widespread and are unpredictable. Over time, these changes, as well as regulatory efforts related thereto, could affect our operating costs (for example, the availability and cost of products, commodities and energy (including utilities)), which in turn may impact our ability to procure goods and services required for the operation of our businesses at the quantities and levels and at the costs we require.

Geopolitical and trade · Regulatory and policy uncertainty

There is also continued uncertainty surrounding potential changes to the regulatory environment (including, but not limited to, personnel changes at regulatory agencies) in the United States. For example, continued efforts to reform federal government processes and reduce expenditures, as well as pressures on and uncertainty surrounding the U.S. federal government's budget and political changes in budgeting priorities could continue to adversely affect the funding for individual programs, including government programs, upon which our customers depend.

Economic and market conditions · Economic recession and downturns

Additionally, to the extent that these inflationary pressures result in a recessionary environment, we may experience material adverse effects on our business, results of operations and cash flows.

Strategic execution · Strategic transformation and turnaround risks

Our plans depend significantly on strategies, initiatives and investments designed to increase sales and profitability and improve the efficiencies, costs and effectiveness of our operations, and failure to achieve or sustain these plans could materially affect our results of operations. We have short-term and long-term strategies, initiatives and investments (such as those relating to merchandising, real estate and new store development, mature stores and store remodels (including Project Elevate), international expansion, store formats and concepts (including pOpshelf), digital, marketing, shrink, damages, sourcing, private brand, inventory management, supply chain, private fleet, store operations, expense reduction, and technology) in various stages of testing, evaluation, and implementation.

Market position and competition · Pricing pressure and margin compression

To maintain our competitive position, we may be required to lower prices, either temporarily or permanently, and may have limited ability to increase prices in response to increased costs, resulting in lower margins and reduced profitability.

Strategic execution · Geographic expansion and market entry

We also may not anticipate or successfully address all of the challenges imposed by the expansion of our operations (including our pOpshelf and Mi Super Dollar General store concepts), including into new countries or domestic markets, states or urban or suburban areas where we have limited or no meaningful experience or brand recognition.

Technology infrastructure · Legacy systems and technical debt

In addition, costs and delays for any reason associated with the implementation of new or upgraded systems and technology, including our current migration of applications to the cloud, modernization of legacy systems (including our Finance and Human Resources enterprise resource planning system and our inventory replenishment system) and our new point of sale system, or with maintenance or adequate support of existing systems also could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations.

Technology infrastructure · Disaster recovery and business continuity

These events also could affect consumer sentiment or shopping patterns or prevent customers from reaching our stores, which could lead to lost sales and higher markdowns, or result in increases in fuel or other energy prices (including those related to the conflict in the Middle East), fuel shortage(s), new store or distribution center opening delays, the temporary lack of an adequate work force in a market, the temporary or long-term disruption of product availability in our stores, the temporary or long-term inability to obtain or access technology needed to effectively run our business, disruption of our utility services or information systems, and damage to our reputation.

Digital transformation and innovation · Artificial intelligence and automation

There are also risks associated with our continued integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning within our technology systems (for example, if the types of information that applications with embedded artificial intelligence assist in producing are or are alleged to be deficient, inaccurate, or biased, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected).

Cybersecurity and data protection · Data privacy and protection regulations

Because we accept debit and credit cards for payment, we are subject to industry data protection standards and protocols, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, issued by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. Nonetheless, we or our applicable payment processing partner(s), may be vulnerable to, and unable to detect and appropriately respond to, cardholder data security breaches and data loss, including successful attacks on applications, systems, or networks.

Core operations · Quality control and product defects

Inventory shrinkage and damages may negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition. We experience significant inventory shrinkage and damages. Although some level of inventory shrinkage and damages is an unavoidable cost of doing business, higher rates of inventory shrinkage and damages or increased security measures or other costs to combat inventory theft could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Supply chain and procurement · Supplier operation and dependance

A significant disruption to our distribution network, the capacity of our distribution centers or the timely receipt of inventory could adversely affect sales or increase our transportation costs, which would decrease our profitability. We rely on our distribution and transportation network to provide goods to our stores timely and cost-effectively.

Human capital and workforce · Labor relations and union negotiations

In addition, to the extent a significant portion of our employee base unionizes, or attempts to unionize, our labor and other costs could increase, and if the federal government adopts or imposes regulatory or other changes to existing law that could facilitate union organizing or otherwise restrict employer actions, it could have an adverse effect on our business.

Stakeholder relations · Supplier and vendor relationships

We rely on third parties in many aspects of our business, which creates additional risk. Due to the scale and scope of our business, we must rely on relationships with third parties, including our suppliers, distributors, landlords, contractors, and external business partners. If we are unable to effectively manage our third-party relationships and the agreements under which our third-party partners operate, our results of operations and cash flows could be adversely impacted.

Market and investment · Market volatility and economic cycles

Adverse events, such as deteriorating or challenging economic conditions, high unemployment rates, high gas or energy prices, transportation disruptions, or unusual or unanticipated adverse weather could result in lower-than-planned sales during the Christmas selling season, which in turn could reduce our profitability and otherwise adversely affect our financial performance and operating results.