Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc.

Good afternoon, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc.'s second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines have been placed on listen-only mode to prevent any background noise. Following the speaker's remarks, we will open up your lines for questions. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Hosting today's call are Grove's CEO, Jeff Yurcisin, and CFO, Tom Siragusa. Some of the statements made today about future prospects, financial results, business strategies, industry trends, and Grove's ability to successfully respond to business risks may be considered forward-looking, including statements relating to moving to customer-first innovation, expansion of dropship capabilities, the focus on sales through Amazon in the second half of this year, the ability for its liquidity position to fund its 2026 plan, plans to take a full funnel approach to customer acquisition, the expectation that it will grow advertising spending in future quarters, the impact of customer experience improvements, the impact of an improved subscription experience, sequential net revenue improvement in each remaining quarter in 2026, and guidance for 2026, including guidance related to revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Such statements are based on current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including those risks discussed in Grove's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All of these statements are based on Grove's views today, and Grove assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. except as may be required under applicable securities laws. During today's call, Grove will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures which adjust GAAP results to eliminate the impact of certain items. You will find additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP items to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in Grove's earnings release, which is also available on Grove's Investor Relations website. I would now like to turn the call over to Jeff Yurcisin to begin.

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us. Last quarter we told you we expected the first quarter to represent the revenue trough for the year. This quarter's results came in as we expected. Net revenue grew 1% sequentially to $36.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $0.5 million, our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. And operating cash flow was positive $1.3 million, proving that we are delivering on the plan we set out at the beginning of the year. We saw progress across many elements of the business last quarter. Net revenue per order grew 6% year over year. We launched an updated subscription experience that enhances the customer journey in reordering essentials. And we continued to drive structural improvements to our unit economics, including efficiencies from our updated outbound shipping strategy, which improved our outbound shipping costs in the second quarter. That progress is happening against the backdrop of a much larger opportunity. The 57 million conscientious consumers we serve aren't just choosing a lifestyle. They're making a health decision every time they choose what comes into their home, including what they put in their bodies. A dish soap, a lotion, a cleaning spray with synthetic chemicals or microplastics is a small exposure on its own. A vitamin or supplement with unverified sourcing carries the same kind of risk. That's the problem Grove exists to solve, and it's why we hold the products we carry across home, personal care, vitamins, minerals, supplements, as a few examples, to a higher bar, including thousands of banned ingredients. The most stringent standard we know of in the industry. As we deepen our customer experience and continue to expand our focus on human health, that standard is what guides every decision we make. We are making progress toward translating the opportunity into durable, profitable growth. The durable business model is built on trust, and that trust is validated in a recent growth survey from February of 26 of approximately 1,000 growth customers, showing that 9 out of 10 trust growth more than Amazon and mass retailers, to sell safe and healthy products, which I believe is the most important data point to support our moat as the trusted destination for conscientious consumers. As we have done throughout this transformation, we are organizing our progress around the same four strategic pillars, and I want to walk through each of them, starting with sustainable profitability. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $0.5 million in the second quarter, or a 1.3% margin, our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. Operating expenses were down 27% year-over-year, reflecting the structural headcount reductions we described last quarter and the lower shipping costs from our updated carrier strategy. We remain disciplined on expenses as we continue our transformation and balance top and bottom line performance. The next pillar is balance sheet strength. We ended the quarter with $11.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, up from $10.4 million at the end of the first quarter. Operating cash flow was positive $1.3 million, reflecting a decrease in inventory, along with non-cash items more than offsetting our net loss for the quarter. The discipline we've applied across the business is what's made it possible to manage this transformation over the last several quarters. We are comfortable with our liquidity position to fund the plan we've laid out this year. The third pillar is revenue growth. Net revenue of $36.6 million was down 16.9% year-over-year, but up 1% quarter-over-quarter. D2C revenue declined slightly quarter-over-quarter, while total net revenue grew, driven by growth in our non-D2C channels, including Amazon and QVC. We are also seeing continued progress growing D2C net revenue per order, built on the category expansion work we've done over the past three years. is expanding a bit more on category expansion. We recently launched dropship capabilities. This lets us further expand selection into new categories without the inventory ownership costs of traditional vendor relationships, an important lever as we broaden assortment while maintaining balance sheet discipline. We launched with two brands this past week. but plan to expand into larger format categories including mattresses and air filtration and water purification systems, natural extensions of our platform that help customers make healthier choices throughout their home. We'll share more detail on the pace and scope of this expansion in future quarters. In addition, our revenue is stabilizing as we move further past last year's e-commerce platform migration and the pullback in advertising investment we made in prior years. As we accelerate that investment, we're holding a high bar on payback periods, earning growth through an improved customer experience that drives repeat orders. We continue to invest with discipline through the second quarter. As the customer experience improvements strengthen retention and unit economics, we're planning to take a more full funnel approach to acquisition, not just performance channels, but upper funnel investments that builds broader brand awareness. We expect disciplined increases through the rest of the year as these improvements support new customer acquisition. Next, as promised last quarter, we delivered a meaningfully improved subscription experience during the second quarter. Subscriptions are core to our business, present in more than 80% of orders. Unlike subscription models built around a single item, ours lets customers build and adjust their entire basket of household essentials, delivered on a cadence that works for them. Not seven separate packages, but one seamless shopping experience for the products their home and family needs. We believe this experience will be a meaningful driver of retention and loyalty going forward. Lastly, we continue to build out our presence in other online channels like Amazon, expanding our own brand business without cannibalizing our D2C platform. We believe there's a substantial addressable market of Amazon shoppers looking for the same kind of curated, trustworthy brands like our Grove brand, and we've seen other mission-driven brands build meaningful scale on the platform, which reinforces our convictions. It's still early, and we're watching closely to make sure this is additive to the business. This is one of the areas we'll be leaning into as part of our second half strategy, and we'll share more as it develops. Our fourth and final pillar is human and environmental health. You may have noticed that we flipped the order of human and environmental health because we are continuing to focus more on human health. At Grove, our mission has always been to create and curate products for healthier homes and a healthier planet. And we are leaning further into the human at the center of that promise because human and environmental health are inseparable. The same ingredients that burden the planet too often end up in our homes and in our bodies. That conviction drives a strict curation protocol. Every product we carry is screened against a higher bar. Thousands of banned ingredients spanning hormone disruptors, microplastics, respiratory irritants, skin and allergy triggers, and hidden contaminants. It is the most stringent standard we know of in the industry. Consumers are moving in the same direction. A recent survey of 1,000 people indicated that 90% of consumers say they are concerned about microplastics and 86% are ready for action, especially from companies. You will see growth more and more focused on enabling customers to build a healthier home for the people they love. During the quarter, We also released our 2025 Annual Sustainability Report, Advancing Our Leadership in Plastic Reduction and Human Health Standards. A few data points from the report. First, 2025 marked a new company low plastic intensity score of 0.9 pounds per $100 of net revenue. And since 2020, Grove has surpassed 18.7 million pounds of nature-bound plastic collected through Repurpose Global, while customers purchasing plastic reducing products have helped avoid Over 8.5 million pounds of plastic to date. Together, these four pillars remain our guiding principles, and they're building the foundation for Grove's next chapter, durable, profitable growth. Finally, I want to acknowledge Tom's transition. As we previously disclosed, Tom will be leaving Grove on August 16th. to pursue a new opportunity. Tom has been instrumental to the progress we've discussed today, including our expense and balance sheet discipline in recent quarters that's positioned us for long-term growth. We're grateful for his contributions and wish him well. Our search for a successor is underway and we'll provide updates as appropriate. I will turn it over to Tom to review our financial results for the second quarter in more detail. Thank you, Jeff, and welcome, everyone.

Before jumping into the results, I want to say a word on my own transition. Serving as Grove's CFO through this stretch of the company's history has been one of the privileges of my career thus far. I'm grateful to Jeff and the board for the trust they've placed in me and to this team for the work we've done together to put Grove on a stronger financial footing. Now turning to the results. Our results this quarter are consistent with the outlook we provided last quarter. We grew revenue sequentially. We continue to see improvements in unit economics. Our cost structure remains leaner following the changes we've made over the past several quarters. and the team executed against the roadmap we laid out at the start of the year. Starting at the top line, net revenue for the second quarter was $36.6 million, down 16.9% year-over-year, but an increase of 1% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year decline was primarily driven by a smaller active customer base entering the year, reflecting the compounding effects of lower advertising investment, consistent with the strategy to prioritize profitability and customer experience improvements before reaccelerating growth. and customer attrition tied to the e-commerce platform disruptions experienced throughout 2025, partially offset by an increase in DTC net revenue per order. The sequential increase was driven by growth from non-DTC channels, partially offset by a slight decline in DTC revenue. DTC total orders were 489,000, a decline of 23.6% year-over-year. Active customers totaled 509,000 at quarter end, down 23.3% versus the prior year. These declines reflect the lagging effects of reduced advertising investment and customer attrition tied to the e-commerce platform disruptions experienced throughout 2025. DTC net revenue per order was $69.19, an increase of 6.1% year-over-year. The improvement was driven primarily by a larger mix of higher-priced items and customer orders, reflecting our continued category expansion, as well as greater efficiency in promotional spend following the launch of our new loyalty program, Grove Green Rewards, launched in the fourth quarter of 2025. The year-over-year comparison also benefited from a prior year test that temporarily increased the volume of smaller value orders, which did not reoccur in the second quarter of 2026. Gross margin was 53.6%, a decrease of 190 basis points compared to 55.4% in the second quarter of 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by one-time disposals in the quarter, as well as we sell through a previously reserved inventory in the prior year that did not reoccur. These decreases were partially offset by a more targeted promotional strategy enabled in part by Grove Green Rewards. Turning to advertising, we invested $1.2 million in the quarter, a 54.6% decrease year over year, but a slight increase compared to the first quarter, increasing advertising spend from 3.2% of revenue to 3.4%. With an enhanced e-commerce experience in place, We expect to grow our advertising investment with discipline in future quarters. Product development expense was $1.5 million, down 31.4% year-over-year, reflecting lower personnel spend on own-brands development. At present, we have been more selective in own-brand innovation, prioritizing resources toward improving our core technology and customer experience. SG&A was $17.6 million, a 23.2% decrease versus the prior year. The decrease was driven by improvements to our personnel cost structure, lower fulfillment costs from fewer orders, and lower outbound shipping rates tied to our carrier change, as well as continued ongoing cost optimization across the organization. Net loss was $0.9 million, or a 2.5% net loss margin, compared to a net loss of $3.6 million, or an 8.2% net loss margin in the prior year. The year-over-year improvement reflects lower operating expenses from the structural changes we had made over the past several quarters. Partially offset by lower revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was positive $0.5 million, or a 1.3% margin, compared to negative $0.9 million, or a negative 2.1% margin in the prior year. The year-over-year improvements reflect lower operating expenses, consistent with the net loss improvement. This is our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. Turning to the balance sheet and liquidity. We ended the quarter with $11.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. An increase from $10.4 million at the end of the first quarter, primarily reflecting cash generated from operating activities, partially offset by higher capitalized expenditures as a result of continued investment in our e-commerce platform enhancements. Operating cash flow was positive $1.3 million, reflecting working capital reduction in the quarter, primarily a decrease in inventory, coupled with positive net income net of non-cash expenses. This compares favorably to positive $1 million in the prior year period. Now returning to our outlook, the second quarter was in line with our expectations on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Therefore, we are reaffirming the top and bottom line guidance we raised during the first quarter. For full year 2026, we continue to expect net revenue of $142.5 million to $152.5 million and adjusted EBITDA a break even to positive low single digit millions. Furthermore, we still expect sequential revenue improvement in each remaining quarter in 2026. In closing, we are continuing to see progress on the top line while executing with financial discipline we committed to at the start of the year, protecting liquidity while laying the groundwork for the growth we expect to continue. The cost structure is more efficient, the unit economics are improving, and we are managing cash flow consistent with our liquidity. I am encouraged by where we stand and our ability to deliver on the plan we laid out for 2026. With that, I will turn the call back over to Jeff for closing remarks.

Thank you, Tom. Two quarters into 2026, we're seeing our discipline translate into results. Sequential revenue growth, three consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA, positive cash flow, and a customer experience we've meaningfully reinvested in over the last several quarters, including category expansion, our loyalty program, the relaunched mobile application, and now an updated subscription experience we committed to delivering this quarter. At the same time, we're clear-eyed that our revenue is still down year over year. and that re-accelerating it remains the work in front of us. It's where the customer experience improvements and advertising investment we've described today are aimed. These improvements also give us a greater ability to re-engage lapsed customers and invest in advertising to bring in new customers seeking a trusted, curated destination for a healthier home. That's what gives me confidence in the path forward, not just the progress we've made, but the fact that we're building towards something durable, the trusted destination for families who care about what comes into their home. I want to thank all of you for your continued interest in Grove. We look forward to updating you on the progress next quarter.

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions. We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Jeff Yurcisin for closing comments.

thank you for joining us hope you have a great night thank you