Ted Decker
President & Chief Operating Officer at Home Depot
Thanks, Craig, and good morning, everyone. We had a great third quarter. I want to start by thanking all our associates as well as the supplier and transportation partners for their unwavering commitment to serving our customers and communities in what remains a very challenging operating environment. There is no question that pressures on global supply chains increased over the last 18 months.
That being said, we could not be more pleased with how our cross-functional teams responded. The teams took a number of decisive actions to secure more product for our customers, while continuing to find new and different ways to flow that product. Beginning in the second quarter of last year, our merchant, inventory and supply chain teams leveraged tools and analytics and worked with our vendor partners to adjust our assortments and in some cases, introduced alternative products.
The teams also built depth in job lot quantities and high demand products. We improved our in-stock levels in the back half of last year and we've been able to sustain and in some cases improve our levels even as home improvement demand remains elevated.
In addition to the challenging supply chain environment, we are also seeing rising cost pressures across several different product categories. Our seasoned teams of merchandizing, finance and data analytics associates are working with our supplier partners to manage through these pressures. We've effectively managed inflationary environments in the past and we feel good about our ability to continue managing through the current environment of being our customer's advocate for value.
Turning to our comp performance during the third quarter; 12 of our 14 merchandising departments posted positive comps Appliances, plumbing, electrical, building materials, tools, kitchen and bath, decor and storage and millwork and flooring had comps above the Company average. Paint, outdoor gardening and hardware were positive but below the Company average. Indoor garden was essentially flat and lumber posted a high single-digit negative comp compared with lumber comps of more than 50% in the third quarter of 2020.
On a two-year basis, each of our departments posted healthy double-digit positive comps. Our comp average ticket increased 12.7% and comp transactions decreased 5.8%. Growth in our comp average ticket was driven in part by inflation across several product categories. Our commodity categories positively impacted our average ticket growth by approximately 70 basis points in the third quarter driven by inflation in copper and building materials, which was partially offset by deflation in lumber.
On a two-year basis, both comp average ticket and comp transactions were healthy and positive. Big ticket comp transactions or those over $1,000 were up approximately 18% compared to the third quarter of last year. During the third quarter, pro sales growth continue to outpace DIY growth. On a two-year comp basis, growth in both our pro and DIY customers was consistent and strong.
Similar to the second quarter, we saw many of our customers turn to pros for help with larger projects. We see this in the strength of several pro heavy categories like drywall, pneumatics, pipe and fittings and several millwork categories. We remain encouraged by what we are hearing from our pros as they tell us their backlogs are healthy.
Sales leveraging our digital platforms grew approximately 8% for the third quarter, which brings our digital two-year growth to approximately 95%. Our customers continue to shop with us in an interconnected manner, as approximately 55% of our online orders are fulfilled through our stores.
While we navigate these challenging environment, we continue to invest in our business to enhance the customer shopping experience while also driving productivity and efficiency. We believe we have a significant opportunity to further optimize space productivity in our stores by balancing the art and science of retail. This is a continuous process that we believe leads to better, more productive assortments and space allocations, which ultimately drives value for our customers.
Let me take a moment to comment on some unique capabilities we've built that showcase what I mean. More than a year ago, we started a test in some of our higher volume stores. The idea was, how can we further drive space productivity and improve the shopping experience at the same time.
Our cross-functional teams applied a combination of space optimization models in conjunction with the expertise of our local field merchants, many of whom have more than 30 years of tenure with The Home Depot to create store-specific outcomes that adjust assortments and improve space utilization.
The results exceeded our expectations. Sales per square foot improved, on-shelf availability improved, voice of the customer scores improved, labor utilization improved, and during the process, we were able to add net new base to the stores. As a result, we went from a small test to now targeting more than 400 stores this year with more in the pipeline for next year. I want to recognize all the teams helping drive this success.
As we turn our attention to the fourth quarter, we are excited about the upcoming holiday season. During the third quarter, we hosted our Halloween event and could not be happier with the results. We saw record sales and sell through as customers responded to our exclusive product offerings and innovative approach to the category.
During the fourth quarter, we intend to continue this momentum with our annual holiday, Black Friday and gift center events. Like last year, we extended these events to cover a longer period and not just focus on one day.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Richard.
