Recasts first paragraph, adds background from paragraph 2, details in paragraph 4,8
Sept 11 (Reuters) - Dollarama DOL.TO beat second-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, helped by lower costs and stable demand for low-priced essentials like groceries.
Consumers grappling with rising living costs have relentlessly bargain-hunted and traded down to cheaper alternatives.
In addition, lower costs of inbound shipping and logistics helped the dollar-store company counter lingering challenges related to shrink, in which inventory is either lost, stolen or damaged.
The Montreal, Quebec-based company's gross margin rose to 45.2% in the quarter ended July 28 from 43.9%, a year ago.
The company also reiterated its fiscal 2025 comparable sales forecast of a rise in the 3.5%-4.5% range.
U.S. dollar stores like Dollar General DG.N and Dollar Tree DLTR.O have been trying to lift demand as larger rivals such as Target TGT.N, Walmart WMT.N and PDD Holding's PDD.O e-commerce platform Temu competed for customer dollar.
This also meant off-price retailers such as TJX TJX.N and Ross Stores ROST.O reported a sequential rise in customer traffic at the cost of higher-end department store operators like Macy's M.N.
Dollarama's sales rose 7.4% to C$1.56 billion ($1.15 billion) compared to a year ago. Analysts estimated sales of C$1.57 billion, according to LSEG data.
The company posted earnings per share of C$1.02 compared with 86 Canadian cents a year ago. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 97 Canadian cents.
($1 = 1.3577 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)