William P. Boltz
Executive Vice President, Merchandising at Lowe's Companies
Thanks, Marvin, and good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter, U.S. comparable sales decreased slightly by 0.7% though sales were up 34.4% on a three-year basis, reflecting continued momentum with the Pro and resilience in core DIY home improvement demand. We delivered positive comps in home decor, fueled by key categories like appliances, paint and kitchens and bath. And we delivered strong growth in our Building Products division, excluding the impacts of commodity deflation.
We are particularly encouraged by the Pro strength we're seeing across categories including rough plumbing, building materials, paint and millwork as we continue to expand our product and service offerings to meet their needs. And consistent with our Total Home strategy, we continue to add brands relevant to Pros, including four new partnerships. First, we're adding a portfolio of drinks from Coca-Cola to reduce the number of stops Pros make before going into the job site, which is important since time is money for these customers.
Second, we are adding Carhartt apparel, that's popular with both our Pro and our DIY consumer, especially in our rural stores. Third, we have entered a new national partnership with Hubbell, giving us access to all of their Pro-branded electrical boxes, including BELL, TayMac and RACO. And fourth, we are excited to be bringing back Klein Tools. As Marvin mentioned, this is the number one hand tool brand among the electrical and HVAC professionals. So this is just a big deal for us and our Pros.
We're also really excited to announce that Lowe's will offer the widest selection of client products anywhere in the home improvement retail channel, which will be available in the second half of 2023. Our initial selection of Klein Tools will include hand tools and electrical test and measurement tools, followed by a multi-year rollout of new product innovations. Klein Tools, Hubbell, Carhartt and Coca-Cola are strong additions to our Pro brand arsenal which already includes other great brands like Bosch, DEWALT, Eaton, Estwing, FastenMaster, FLEX, GRK, ITW, LESCO, Little Giant, Lufkin, Mansfield, Marshalltown, Metabo, SharkBite, Simpson Strong-Tie, SPAX, Spyder and Werner.
As we gain momentum with the Pro, we continue to see brands come to Lowe's, and in many cases come back to Lowe's, because they recognize our new-found recommitment to the Pro and see the opportunity to grow with us.
Shifting to our Merchandising division performance for the quarter. In home decor, appliances, paint and kitchens and bath led the way. Appliances grew across both Pro and DIY, as we continued to gain market share in this critical category. Growth was bolstered by our new instant savings capability that automatically apply supplier rebates to a customer's order, making it much easier and faster for them to take advantage of these offers, which are supported by the manufacturer. This replaces our cumbersome mail-in rebates with real-time savings, both in-stores and online, to remove friction for the customer and improve conversion. This innovation is another example of Lowe's leapfrogging the competition with technology that not only improves the customer experience, but also drives labor productivity.
Paint was another standout category with solid Pro growth fueled by our MVPs Pro Paint Rewards and Pro job site delivery. We are also seeing an uptick in paint attachments, items like applicators, paint sundries and caulk, as we upgrade our paint departments across our stores. This upgrade is strategically designed to make it easier for our customers to get everything they need in one trip.
We also began the launch of STAINMASTER paint, a high-quality, high-value solution for busy families looking to protect their walls from fingerprints and other messes. This is Lowe's first-ever private brand paint, and early results are already outperforming our expectations. Our focus on driving private brand penetration is well-timed, enabling us to capitalize on the nationwide trend of increasing customer preference for private brands.
Another category that outperformed this quarter is kitchens and bath. We were particularly encouraged to see a strong increase in demand for custom cabinets, driven by improved lead times as well as an expanded suite of digital tools, along with our team of talented virtual designers, all of which help our customers tailor the right solutions for their budgets and design preferences.
Turning to the Building Products division. We delivered strong broad-based growth, excluding the impacts of commodity deflation across copper and lumber. We delivered strong positive comps across rough plumbing, building materials and millwork, driven by Pro demand and continued DIY investment in the home.
Our performance in hardlines was consistent with broader consumer trends as we saw a decrease in holiday gift buying compared to the prior year. However, the team still delivered a solid holiday season with sell-throughs above 2019 levels. As expected, consumers reverted to more typical holiday buying patterns, as compared to last year when we saw widespread early buying due to supply chain concerns.
As we look ahead, we continue to build on our customers' preference for new and innovative products with continued enhancements to our product assortments. We are expanding our popular Kobalt 24-volt platform with new tools and technology that customers have been asking for, including a cordless Kobalt nailer that can instantly fire 1,100 nails on a single charge, eliminated the need to drag an air compressor and a hose around the job site.
We are also excited about our new EGO zero-turn radius mower with the industry's first e-steer technology with a sleek, intuitive steering wheel that increases the driver's control and precision powered by the EGO battery system that now allows this unit to mow three acres on a single charge. We are ready to capitalize on spring with the best in-stock positions that we've had in three years right on time to support our biggest selling season of the year.
In addition to an enhanced assortment and strong in-stock levels, we're also making strides in driving merchandising productivity as part of our enterprise-wide perpetual productivity improvement initiatives. As one of the larger importers in the U.S., we continue to leverage our scale and carrier relationships to secure capacity and reduce our import and domestic transportation costs. As the cost of transportation and raw materials come down, we are working with our suppliers to ensure that our prices are competitive to support sales and to protect our margins.
We have sophisticated cost optimization tools that track prices of the underlying components of the products we sell. So the teams are well-informed for these discussions. We're also holding our suppliers accountable to drive out costs through their productivity just as we are doing throughout our own organization. We are also partnering with our suppliers through our Lowe's One Roof Media Network. Some of our top suppliers have already locked in sizable contracts for 2023, and we're excited to partner with them to strategically target the home improvement shopper to drive traffic on Lowes.com and convert the sale.
Before I close, I'd like to extend my appreciation to our merchants and our inventory and supply chain teams, along with our vendor partners, for their hard work and continued support throughout 2022. I'm looking forward to what we will accomplish together in 2023, as we continue to find ways to provide value to our shared customers.
Thank you. And I'll now turn the call over to Joe.