The Home Depot reported earnings today and reaffirmed their guidance for the year. They didn’t dig too much into grills in particular, but their overall sentiment echoed what we’ve seen from other players in the market.
Softer Big-Ticket Sales
When it comes to grill purchases, they fit squarely in big-ticket discretionary purchases. Unfortunately, that’s what The Home Depot saw softness in for their quarter ending in July. It’s a continuation of the trend from their previous quarter.
Big-ticket comp transactions or those over $1,000 were down 5.5% compared to the second quarter of last year. After 3 years of unprecedented demand in the home improvement market, we continue to see softer engagement in big-ticket discretionary categories like patio and appliances that likely reflects both pull-forward of these single item purchases and deferrals.
Billy Bastek, EVP, Merchandising for The Home Depot
There’s two dynamics at play there with Billy Bastek’s comments. The first is that a large number of grills were purchased through the pandemic created pull-ahead for the normal replenishment cycle.
The second dynamic is with deferrals. The macro environment could be causing consumers to hold-off on big ticket discretionary purchases until they feel better about the economy.
Inventory
We heard from Traeger that their channel inventory has bottomed, while Middleby was less confident in their inventory position. It seems that The Home Depot is more in the the Traeger camp with their inventory.
Well, we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made relative to our inventory position. And you think about everything that’s happened in the supply chain and lead times associated with that has helped. Listen, we still have work to do to improve productivity. But we feel good about our inventory, and we have low obsolescence risk and super experienced merchant teams.
Billy Bastek, EVP, Merchandising for The Home Depot
That’s good news not only for The Home Depot, but also for all the grill brands that sell through them. A healthy inventory position should help with manufacturer sales through the back half of the year and into 2024.