Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Sumit Singh: We do expect that. So if you recall, we’ve been we’ve been transparent about our expectation of greater promotionality in 2023 from our Q1 call itself. And both Q1 and Q2, we saw higher promotional activity relative to kind of the pandemic years, but the promotional activity so far has been lower than our expectations. As we move from first half into second half, we’ve continued to bake in an incremental promo spend because our expectation is that promotions are going to be higher in the back half of the year. So like I said, we’re not looking to lead the market, but we stand ready to respond to make sure that customer experience and demand are both protected.

Steven Zaccone: Okay, thanks for all the details. Best of luck in the back half.

Sumit Singh: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you, Mr. Zaccone. Our next question is from the line of Anna Andreeva with Needham. You may proceed.

Anna Andreeva: Great. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, guys. Just a follow-up on previous question. Just any color on how we should think about the gross margin for the third quarter, just given your comments on potentially higher promo for the industry as we approach the back-half? And then secondly, just as a follow-up, you had talked about 50 basis points to 75 basis points from Canada investments this year, what was the amount in the second quarter and should we think about the balance more or less evenly split in the back half?

Stacy Bowman: Sure, Hi Anna, this is Stacy, I’ll take the first question on gross margin. So as you know, we don’t typically give formal guidance around gross margin, but we do note it is typical to see some fluctuations from quarter-to-quarter, but we feel good about this quarter and expect gross margin to remain around the 28% level for the balance of the year. Longer-term, we’re excited because we believe there is still meaningful room left for gross margin expansion. So for example, as Sumit mentioned earlier, we continue to grow and have gained market share in existing high-margin verticals like Chewy Health and we also are investing in and scaling new initiatives such as sponsored ads that are margin accretive.

Sumit Singh: And on the second question, the EBITDA guidance essentially implies and consumes the level of investment that we are going to make. So they started – we started ramping investments into Canada and other verticals such as sponsored ads et cetera in Q2, and we will see those continue to ramp up through the back half of the year, which is baked into the guidance. Also, if you recall, we mentioned, in on – our Q1 call, we are going to ramp up new fulfillment centers that launched in the middle of – middle of the year, which has continued on its pace and we should expect some short-term dilution as a result of that. And then finally, the incremental promo or promotional environment that we are talking about is also baked in. So that’s kind of formulates the way that guidance is built for – on a profit basis for the back half.

Anna Andreeva: All right, thank you so much, guys.

Sumit Singh: Sure.

Operator: Thank you, Ms. Andreeva. Our next question is from Dylan Carden with William Blair. You may proceed.

Dylan Carden: Thank you very much. So, I am just trying to reconcile the idea of a wider range of outcomes now anticipated for net customer ads, albeit still positive? And keeping the guidance for the year, I’m just kind of curious what levers or optionality you might be envisioning in doing that?

Sumit Singh: How we’ve done on exceeding our own expectations Dylan, is that basically the question?

Dylan Carden: It seems like there is certainly kind of caution on the net customer ads in the back half and then sort of keeping the guidance as it is. And so where you said the third quarter is trying to understand just reconcile the two as you seems to be at up?

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