The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Chuck Grom - Gordon Haskett Research Advisors - Analyst
: I was hoping you could frame out the state of your consumer in light of your basket commentary. [DG] also spoke about some
ticket compression during times of consumer dress recently and also historically. And then bigger picture, can you talk about
your vendor relationships, both on the closeout on but more importantly, the steps you're taking to drive deeper CPG
relationships?
Question: Matthew Boss - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst
: Great. So could you elaborate on the components of the third quarter comp, particularly the growth in transactions maybe
relative to the second quarter versus drivers of the basket decline? And just how this fits into your customer acquisition
strategy?
And separately, could you speak to the cadence of monthly comps that you saw in the third quarter and just help define the
strong start that you cited in the first quarter, maybe notably trends that you saw before and after Black Friday weekend?
Question: Stephen Zarcone - Citi - Analyst
: I wanted to follow up there. The customer acquisition trends, can you talk about the growth you're seeing with new customers
and then overall customer retention? And then as it relates to the Ollie's Army Night in December, how is your planning for
that event changed at all based on the learnings from adding an additional night in June this year?
Question: Bradley Thomas - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc - Analyst
: You did a nice job here of driving leverage even with such a large increase in stores here this quarter. I was hoping you could
talk a little bit more about some of the levers that you're pulling in SG&A and perhaps an early look at how to think about that
into next year?
Question: Josh Young - Truist Securities - Analyst
: This is Josh Young on for Scott. So can you just give us an update on the performance you're seeing from your stores that
are in similar markets that have been now closed Big Lot locations? And then as we think about new stores and you've kind
of accelerated the pace of openings here, there been any operational stresses you've had to work through or that might be
supply chain or labor? Anything to call out there?
Question: Anthony Chukumba - Loop Capital Markets LLC - Analyst
: So you talked in your prepared remarks about the fact that you have this increased seasonal merchandise assortment as well
as an expanded holiday gift program. If I remember correctly, last year, a lot of the holiday gifts were essentially closed out
from Big Lots. But I'm assuming -- correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of the season on the gift, it's a direct sourced from Asia. I
guess, first off, let me know if that's correct or not, then then also just what are the margin implications of direct sourcing of
the seasonal and the holiday gift as opposed to closeout?
Question: Mark Carden - UBS AG - Analyst
: So building on your marketing spend commentary, on the dollar shift from print to digital, you noted you cut on some of the
post cards. How are you thinking about the traditional print flyers role going forward in your advertising strategy? And would
you expect to make any incremental changes on that front in the coming quarters?
Question: Lauren Ng - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: This is Lauren Ng on for Simeon. First, can you maybe walk through your expectations for the Q4 comp? You mentioned
quarter-to-date trends are currently ahead of the guide. So maybe how should we think about this in the context of Q4 and
maybe what's driving your expectations for this acceleration?
And then quickly, just following up on gross margins, are you able to help us size the impact of the tariff-related expenses on
the Q3? And it looks like the Q4 gross margin contracts pretty meaningfully year-over-year. Is this primarily driven by the tariff
impacts?
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