Hot sellers at Home Depot
The Home Depot in Q4, which ended Jan. 31, delivered comparable store sales up 8.1% from last year, with U.S. comps up 7.6%.
“Departments with comps above the company average, were plumbing, electrical, building materials, millwork, décor and storage, and paint,” said Ted Decker, president and COO of Home Depot, indicating that during the fourth quarter, all regions and merchandising departments posted positive comps.
“Our kitchen and bath department were in-line with the company average; and hardware, tools, lumber, flooring, appliances, and our garden departments were positive, but below the company average,” said Decker.
During the fourth quarter, the comp average ticket increased 12.3%, and comp transactions decreased 3.8%. “Growth in our comp average ticket was driven primarily by inflation across several product categories,” Decker said.
Core commodity categories positively impacted the company’s average ticket growth by approximately 185 basis points in the fourth quarter, driven by inflation in lumber, building materials and copper.
Lumber prices remained volatile. For example, said Decker, “in the fourth quarter alone, the pricing for framing lumber ranged from approximately $585 to over $1,200 per thousand board feet; an increase of more than 100%.”
On a two-year basis, both comp average ticket and comp transactions were healthy and positive in the fourth quarter.
Decker said, “big-ticket comp transactions, or those over $1,000, were up approximately 18% compared to the fourth quarter of last year.”
Home Depot saw continued strength with both its Pro and DIY customers. During the fourth quarter, Pro sales growth out-paced DIY growth.
“Sales growth for our Pro and DIY customers accelerated in the fourth quarter relative to the third quarter and showed strong double-digit growth on a two-year basis for both customer groups,” said Decker.
Over the last year, Decker said, “we faced several challenges, including rising cost pressures, disruptions throughout the supply chain, and the ongoing pandemic.
“I’m extremely grateful for the way our cross-functional teams worked with our partners to mitigate these challenges, while staying focused on serving our customers and communities.”
Q4 results, the company said, were “once again driven by broad-based strength across the business and our geographies. All 19 U.S. regions posted positive comps and Canada and Mexico both posted double- digit positive comps in the fourth quarter.”
