Lowe’s Sales Sag Amid Home Improvement Decrease

North Carolina-based Lowe’s saw its comparable sales slip by 1.6 percent in the second quarter, the company said on Wednesday (Aug. 18), led by a drop of 2.2 percent in the company’s home improvement business.

Total sales in the three months ending July 30 were $27.6 billion, up slightly from $27.3 billion in the second quarter of 2020. Lowe’s saw 21 percent growth in its Pro segment and a 10 percent boost in installation services in the second quarter of this year. Online sales went up about 7 percent year over year, compared to a 135 percent spike the previous year during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marvin Ellison, president and CEO of Lowe’s, noted in a statement that U.S. comp sales are up 32 percent on a two-year basis. “We also delivered significant operating margin expansion through our disciplined focus on driving productivity across the company,” he said. “Looking forward, I am confident in the positive outlook for our industry, and our ability to drive operating margin expansion and market share gains.”

The 1,973 Lowe’s locations encompass 208 million square feet of retail space.

Lowe’s is raising its expectations for the full fiscal year with an expectation of $92 billion in revenue, up 30 percent from two years ago.

Related: Home Depot Customers Make Few Trips, But Buy Bigger Items

On Tuesday (Aug. 17), The Home Depot reported that its customer transactions fell about 6 percent last quarter, but customers’ average spending rose 11 percent.

The world’s largest home improvement retailer said it served 482 million customers in the second quarter ending Aug. 1, down from 512 million a year ago, but saw an average transaction value of $82.48 this year, compared to about $74 in Q2 2020.