A week after we heard from The Home Depot, Lowe’s reported earnings today. There wasn’t much that was grills specific, and what we did hear was inline with what The Home Depot’s remarks.
The main takeaway was that they are seeing pressure we big-ticket discretionary purchases. That’s a category that grills are part of.
…home improvement shoppers remain cautious with their spend especially big ticket discretionary purchases, and are more focused on smaller repair and maintenance projects.
Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe’s Chairman and CEO
Lowe’s was asked if they think this theme will continue. The summary of their reply is they expect it to continue through the rest of the year.
To your question specifically on DIY discretionary, we definitely saw the smaller ticket discretionary projects that were fueled by lawn and garden. We saw that benefit in Q2 as we get into second half, that seasonal benefit is going to subside. So some of the bigger, I’ll call it, interior DIY discretionary areas, I would say, we’re seeing very much performance here early on through August, similar performance with what we’ve seen over the first half. And that baseline performance is essentially what’s reflected in our expectations for second half.
Brandon Sink, Lowe’s EVP and CFO
With Labor Day right around the corner, grill buying is largely done for the year. The exception being bumps for holiday buying.