Home Depot CEO breaks silence after disturbing new data shows shoppers are abandoning store for a crucial reason

THE CEO of Home Depot has spoken out after unsettling data revealed some shoppers may be abandoning the store.

It’s no secret that many often flock to home improvement stores during the spring and summer for additions and corrections to their houses and yards.

Although Home Depot reportedly suffered dwindling customer numbers over the past few months, per a press release from the retail giant earlier this week.

On August 15, the company listed its sales at $42.9billion for the second quarter, a two percent decrease from the same period in 2022.

The declining trend also seemingly began three months earlier in May, when Home Depot reported an over four percent decrease in sales.

Shopper transactions also dropped by just over three percent in the first six months of 2023 in comparison to the same period in 2022.

Ted Decker, Home Depot’s CEO, accredited a crucial reason for the decline and customer departures — a move away from big-ticket items.

Decker explained that customers are opting for smaller home improvement purchases at the retailer’s locations instead of big-ticket patio items and appliances.

There is “pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories,” per what the CEO noted in an earnings call on Tuesday.

Billy Bastek, Home Depot’s vice president of marketing, also revealed numbers that showed customer transactions for products over $1,000 were down at least five and one half percent.

“After three 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,” the VP of marketing noted.

He continued that despite the sales numbers, it doesn’t seem that customers are vacating Home Depot entirely but instead choosing to complete smaller projects in 2023.

Bastek noted customers’ goals were “generally smaller in scale and scope,” per the earnings call.

In contrast, Home Depot saw strengths in “live goods, hardscapes, and landscapes.”

Home Depot CFO Richard McPhail caught the trend after the May sales numbers came in, per Best Life.

McPhail explained that homeowners likely made bigger purchases during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic or are avoiding high-interest rates for financing big-ticket items.

“The state of the homeowner is that they’re very healthy,” the CFO explained to CNBC in an interview.

“They have healthy balance sheets. They have healthy incomes. But I do think—and our professional customers tell us they hear this from their customers—there is that shift, even if it’s temporary from larger projects into smaller ones.”

Decker also remained positive even after the second quarter numbers came in this week, as Home Depot out-performed profit expectations set by Wall Street, according to the Associated Press.

“We were pleased with our performance in the second quarter,” the CEO noted in a press release alongside the data reports.

“We remain very positive on the medium-to-long term outlook for home improvement and our ability to grow share in a large and fragmented market.”

He added: ” Our associates did an outstanding job delivering value and service for our customers throughout the quarter, and I would like to thank them for their dedication and hard work.”

Decker also noted “excitement” for the plans Home Depot has for customers this fall as the retailer moves into its famed Halloween lineup of products.

“This fall, we are excited to grow our faucet lineup to include innovative functionalities, such as touchless and spring neck designs, add to our assortment of sinks and shower heads, while also expanding into new categories like disposals,” he said on the earnings call.

Of the Halloween items, he noted that “these products bring excitement to our stores and help drive traffic.”

For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of actor Tyrese Gibson’s recent legal action against Home Depot.

The U.S. Sun also has the story on Home Depot’s three new terrifying items that it has brought in for its Halloween collection.