Of the 6 major home improvement retailers, 5 companies other than Handsman reported year-on-year declines in September existing-store customer traffic. Meanwhile, average customer spend continues to rise.
A comparison of September performance at 6 major home improvement retailers found that existing-store customer traffic at 5 companies, excluding Handsman, fell below the previous year. As a result, customer traffic overall was on a declining trend in September.
Meanwhile, reports continue to indicate an upward trend in average customer spend during the same period, suggesting that sales contributions on a value basis may be increasing to offset the decline in customer traffic.
Together with the fact that Handsman was the only one of the 6 companies to avoid a year-on-year decline, this trend suggests that differences in customer mix, product offerings and sales strategies may be having an impact. The developments will need to be monitored closely.