Reynolds Consumer Products (REYN) Telefonkonferenz zum 3. Quartal 2026: Prognose bestätigt

Kernpunkte

• Reynolds Consumer Products verbuchte im 3. Quartal 2026 einen Nettoumsatz von 944 Mio. US-Dollar, verglichen mit 931 Mio. US-Dollar im Vorjahreszeitraum. Der Einzelhandelsumsatz stagnierte weitgehend bei 865 Mio. US-Dollar, während das Einzelhandelsvolumen aufgrund preisseitiger Elastizität und anhaltendem Verbraucherdruck um 7 % zurückging.
• Das bereinigte EBITDA sank um 5 Mio. US-Dollar auf 163 Mio. US-Dollar. Der bereinigte Nettogewinn fiel von 88 Mio. US-Dollar auf 83 Mio. US-Dollar, und das bereinigte Ergebnis je Aktie (EPS) verringerte sich von 0,42 US-Dollar auf 0,39 US-Dollar.
• Das Management erklärte, dass Preiserhöhungen die volumenseitige Elastizität beim Umsatz mehr als ausglichen und den Rohstoffkostendruck neutralisierten. Produktivitätssteigerungen in der Lieferkette stützten zudem das Wachstum des Bruttogewinns in US-Dollar trotz geringerer Einzelhandelsvolumina.
• Das Unternehmen bekräftigte seinen Ausblick für das Gesamtjahr 2026, der ein Nettoumsatzwachstum von 1 % bis 3 %, ein bereinigtes EBITDA von 660 Mio. bis 675 Mio. US-Dollar sowie ein bereinigtes EPS von 1,57 bis 1,63 US-Dollar vorsieht.
• Reynolds rechnet weiterhin mit einer zusätzlichen jährlichen Gegenwind-Belastung durch Rohstoffe von rund 400 Mio. US-Dollar. Das Management geht davon aus, dass Verbraucherdruck, erhöhte Beschaffungskosten und im Jahresvergleich niedrigere Einzelhandelsvolumina auch im 4. Quartal wesentliche Einflussfaktoren bleiben werden.
• Die Übernahme von Owl’s Head im Oktober wird voraussichtlich nur begrenzte Auswirkungen auf das Geschäftsjahr 2026 haben. Das Management gab an, dass die Kapazitäten im Bereich der Aluminiumverarbeitung die vertikale Integration stärken und langfristige Wachstums- und Margenchancen eröffnen sollten.

Wichtigste Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Im Segment Reynolds Cooking and Kitchen Essentials belasteten erhebliche aluminiumbedingte Preiserhöhungen die Nachfrage nach Folien. Laut Management erzielten die Kategorie und die Marke Reynolds dennoch ein zweistelliges Umsatzwachstum im Einzelhandel in US-Dollar. Das Unternehmen plant für das saisonal wichtige vierte Quartal eine verstärkte Verkaufsförderung, neue Display-Konzepte und attraktivere Aktionspreise.

Backpapier profitierte von höheren Abverkaufsgeschwindigkeiten, während Saisonprodukte die Bindung an die Marke Reynolds zusätzlich stärkten. Die Übernahme von Owl’s Head bringt Kapazitäten in der Aluminiumverarbeitung ein, die das bestehende Fertigungsnetzwerk ergänzen.

Der Bereich Hefty Waste and Cleanup setzte ebenfalls Preisanpassungen durch, um den höheren Beschaffungskosten zu begegnen. Das Management erklärte, die Elastizität habe im Rahmen der Erwartungen gelegen, während Innovationen dazu beitragen konnten, den Wettbewerbsdruck zu mildern. Farbige Müllbeutel verzeichneten ein Wachstum von über 40 %, angeführt von der Serie Hefty Color. Innovationen trugen mit 10 Prozentpunkten zum Distributionswachstum bei, zusammen mit mehreren Prozentpunkten höherer digitaler Penetration.

Das Segment Hefty Home and Tableware war weiterhin vom Druck auf die ermessensabhängigen Konsumausgaben betroffen. Das Unternehmen meldete jedoch Wachstum und Marktanteilsgewinne bei Partybechern und Besteck der Marke Hefty. Zu den Produktneuheiten gehören aufeinander abgestimmte Halloween-Geschirrsets sowie Chill-To-Go-Becher für den mobilen Außer-Haus-Verzehr.

Hefty Storage and Organization verzeichnete im 3. Quartal ein geringeres Volumen, was teilweise auf zeitliche Verschiebungen nach einem Volumenwachstum von 8 % im 2. Quartal zurückzuführen ist. Das Management betonte, dass der Geschäftsbereich seit Jahresbeginn trotz des Drucks durch Dual-Sourcing bei Handelsmarken Wachstum und Marktanteilsgewinne erzielte.

Das Unternehmen investierte weiterhin in Forschung & Entwicklung, Produktinnovationen, Werbung und digitale Kapazitäten. Seine Digitalstrategie konzentriert sich auf Produktauffindbarkeit, Konvertierung, Investitionsrendite sowie die kanalübergreifende Skalierung erfolgreicher Fähigkeiten.

Prognose des Managements

Basierend auf dem Ausblick für das Gesamtjahr ergaben sich aus den Angaben des Managements folgende implizierte Spannen für das 4. Quartal 2026:

Das Management gab an, dass der Ausblick für das Gesamtjahr die bereits umgesetzten Preiserhöhungen, die bisher beobachtete Elastizität, fortlaufende Produktivitätsvorteile sowie die aktuellen Erwartungen hinsichtlich der Verbraucher und Rohstoffpreise berücksichtigt. Das Unternehmen geht davon aus, dass der Verschuldungsgrad (Net Leverage) im Zielbereich von 2,0x bis 2,5x bleiben wird.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

• Die Rohstoffkosten bleiben hoch, mit einer geschätzten zusätzlichen jährlichen Gegenwind-Belastung von rund 400 Mio. US-Dollar.
• Höhere Preise haben zu einer volumenseitigen Elastizität geführt, einschließlich eines Rückgangs des Einzelhandelsvolumens um 7 % im 3. Quartal.
• Das Management beobachtete im Verlauf des Jahres 2026 eine gewissere Verschlechterung der Verbraucherlage, da die breitere Inflation die Haushaltskosten ansteigen ließ.
• Der Wettbewerbs- und Werbedruck bleibt hoch, insbesondere bei Müll- und Gefrierbeuteln, obwohl die Werbeaktivität im 3. Quartal im Vergleich zum 2. Quartal geringer ausfiel.
• Das 4. Quartal ist das umsatzstärkste Quartal von Reynolds Consumer Products, wodurch die Feiertagsnachfrage, die Umsetzung der Verkaufsförderung, die Verbraucherelastizität und Rohstoffpreisschwankungen zu wichtigen Variablen innerhalb der Prognosespanne werden.
• Das Dual-Sourcing bei Handelsmarken bleibt ein Gegenwind, insbesondere im Bereich Aufbewahrung und Organisation.

Highlights der Analysten-Fragerunde

Das Management nannte drei Prioritäten im Bereich Innovation: die Skalierung bewährter Produkte wie duftender und farbiger Müllbeutel, die Entwicklung von Produkten für neue Verwendungsanlässe wie Unterwegs-Becher sowie die Einführung ergänzender Produkte, die auch die Kernkategorien stärken.

Zur Preisgestaltung erklärte das Management, dass die Elastizität im Allgemeinen innerhalb der erwarteten Spannen geblieben sei. Das Unternehmen prüfe weiterhin gezielte Anpassungen, anstatt seine grundlegende Preisstrategie zu ändern. Zudem verzeichnete Reynolds trotz erheblicher rohstoffbedingter Preiserhöhungen ein zweistelliges Umsatzwachstum bei Haushaltsfolien im Einzelhandel.

Zu den Volumenrückgängen erklärte das Management, dass man in allen Kategorien keine flächendeckenden Verschiebungen beobachtet habe. Die Marktanteilsgewinne von Eigenmarken wurden als moderat beschrieben, während einige Randverbraucher die Kategorien offenbar komplett verlassen. Bei Bechern beispielsweise ging die Gesamtkategorie zurück, während das Volumen, der Einzelhandelsumsatz in US-Dollar und der Marktanteil des Unternehmens stiegen.

Das Management betonte zudem, dass sich häufig nachgefragte Haushaltsprodukte gut für E-Commerce und Abonnementmodelle eignen. Reynolds investiert in Talente und digitale Kapazitäten, um die Auffindbarkeit im Internet, die Konvertierung und die Marketingrenditen zu verbessern, da Produktsuchen zunehmend über Händlerplattformen, soziale Medien und KI-gestützte Einkaufstools erfolgen.

Vollständiges Transkript des Earnings Calls

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc. Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Jill Koval, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you, Jill. You may begin. .

Jill Koval

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Reynolds Consumer Products' Third Quarter Earnings Call. Joining me today are Scott Huckins, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Nathan Lowe, our Chief Financial Officer. Scott will begin with highlights from the third quarter, and Nathan will follow with a detailed look at our financial results and outlook. We'll then open the call for a brief question-and-answer session. .

Before we begin, a few housekeeping items. Today's call is being webcast and a replay, along with our earnings release and investor presentation will be available on the Investor Relations section of our corporate website at reynoldsconsumerproducts.com. Our discussion today will include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described today. Please refer to the Risk Factors section of our SEC filings for additional information. The company does not intend to update or alter these statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the call.

We will also reference certain non-GAAP or adjusted financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings release, investor presentation and Form 10-Q on our Investor Relations website.

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Scott.

Scott Huckins

Thank you, Jill, and good morning, everyone. Our third quarter performance demonstrated the resilience of our brands and the agility of our organization in a dynamic environment. We lend pricing across our categories to recover commodity inflation, and we delivered results at or above our outlook while continuing to invest behind our brands. As expected, higher prices led to some volume elasticity layered on top of a challenged consumer and a backdrop of increased competitive activity.

Our commercial teams drove innovation and distribution gains, and we continue to meet consumer needs across the value spectrum. Our work across our supply chain continue to deliver productivity gains despite higher input costs and facilitated ongoing investment in our brands, innovation and digital capabilities.

For me, all of this is an important proof point of our strategy. Over the last 2 years, we have built a more agile and resilient Reynolds with stronger pricing and RGM capabilities improved operations and supply chain efficiencies and disciplined investment behind the opportunities with the greatest potential return. The dynamic operating environment over this time period has certainly tested these capabilities. but the business has gotten stronger each quarter. We remain confident in our strategy and in our full year outlook.

Turning to the consumer. Household budgets remain under pressure, and we continue to see that reflected in purchasing behavior across our categories. Consumers are seeking value in a number of ways, such as purchasing more on promotion, moving toward opening price point items or choosing larger value-seeking pack sizes. We continue to see the consumer increasingly shopping across mass, club and e-commerce channels. And shopping is increasingly organized around occasions as retailers and delivery platforms bring tools that let shoppers plan by meal or event in addition to shopping by individual product categories.

Our insights teams are staying close to these trends, and we are focused on meeting consumers wherever and however they shop today. We deliver the value, performance and quality consumers expect from our brands while providing them with a wide range of price points to fit their household budgets. When consumers choose store brands, our portfolio allows us to serve that need as well. Our ability to serve consumers across the value spectrum is a meaningful advantage, particularly in the current environment. At the same time, we continue to invest behind where the consumer is going. Shopping is increasingly omnichannel with an estimated 94% of grocery shoppers now buying both online and in store.

Our categories fit this behavior well as these are products consumers use and replenish regularly, making them a natural fit for both online ordering and reordering through subscription platforms. What matters most to us is not just that more purchases are moving online, but that the discovery process is changing. Consumers now find products in more places than ever, whether on the shelf, through retailer search, social platforms or AI-enabled shopping tools. Our job is to make sure Reynolds and Hefty are present and easy to find wherever that discovery happens. Therefore, digital is becoming an increasingly important growth channel for our categories, and we are seeing encouraging results from our investments.

Turning to our business units. Within Reynolds Cooking and Kitchen Essentials, the foil category continued to reflect the impact of significant commodity-driven pricing. Our pricing actions were necessary to recover substantially higher aluminum costs. As expected, higher price points created demand elasticity. Despite this, we saw double-digit retail dollar takeaway growth in the category and for Reynolds' rep. This demonstrates the essential nature and resilience of the category and the strong equity in the Reynolds' brand.

In the fourth quarter, Reynolds' Cooking and Kitchen Essentials will be focused on driving volume through strong merchandising and display execution. Q4 is an important seasonal quarter for our business, supported by holiday-driven demand and significant merchandising activity. We are focused on executing against those opportunities and finishing the year strong. Given the importance of the season, we have strengthened our plans for 2026 with new display vehicles and sharper promotional price points. These are designed to drive category growth reinforce our leadership position and maintain brand loyalty during the holiday season.

At the same time, we continue to find opportunities beyond the core foil business. Parchment benefited from increased velocities and our seasonal innovation continues to create incremental consumer engagement with the Reynolds brand. As you might have seen in the release, we also completed the acquisition of Al's Head Alloys in October, lease aluminum processing capabilities further vertically integrate our aluminum foil business and complement our manufacturing network. Our M&A agenda has several pillars, all oriented towards growth and acquiring capabilities that support growth are 1 important part of that agenda. We certainly welcome the nearly 300 employees of Allied to the Reynolds family. Hefty waste and cleanup delivered a solid quarter in a dynamic environment. We led pricing in the category to address higher input costs. Elasticity was in line with our expectations and strong commercial execution and innovation helped to mitigate some of the competitive elasticity challenges.

We continue to be particularly pleased with consumer response to our sent and color innovation. This includes our recent launch of Hefty UltraStrong Fabuloso peach and Hefty UltraStrong TeaTree and eucalyptus, both of which we plan to scale nationally in 2027. Research shows that in home care, more than half of consumers across generations, say sent influences their interest in new products, and we're seeing that in our sets that have the offerings. By pairing the strength Hefty is known for with Sense consumers love, we have built meaningful growth platforms for the brand. Colored waste bags are a smaller but fast-growing part of the category, up more than 40% and our Hefty Color series is leading that growth across the category.

Our success in building innovation platforms for waste was certainly an element in delivering 10 points of distribution growth and we picked up several points of digital penetration. Competitive intensity remains high, and we will continue to balance consumer value retailer performance and profitability as we manage the business. Within hefty home and tableware, market conditions remained challenging during the third quarter. As a reminder, tableware is our most discretionary category where the majority of usage occasions are for daily convenience. Despite that, we delivered growth and share gains in key areas such as Hefty party cups and coloring.

We are also seeing an opportunity around gatherings, and we're designing innovation with those occasions in mind. For example, we recently launched coordinated Halloween sets that bring together themed plates, cups and calorie making it easier for consumers to shop for the entire occasion. Hefty is also extending beyond traditional at-home occasions with the launch of Chill to-go cups, addressing consumer demand for portable convenient drinkware and expanding the brand into on-the-go usage occasions.

Our objective remains straightforward, strengthen the portfolio, innovate against occasion-based shopping trends and expand into away-from-home consumer needs while continuing to drive productivity and operating performance across the business. Third quarter performance in our Hefty storage and organization business reflected lower volumes due in part to some timing shift between quarters, following 8% volume growth in the second quarter that benefited from some successful promotional activity.

On a year-to-date basis, the business has delivered growth and share gains despite private label dual sourcing headwinds, which have been the most pronounced in this segment. We continue to onboard new business as well, demonstrating the strength of our innovation and value proposition across both Hefty and store brands. As we enter the final quarter of the year, we continue to operate in a dynamic environment. Commodity costs remain elevated, consumers remain under pressure, competitive and promotional activity remains high. These conditions reinforce the importance of staying focused on what we can control as we have done all year long.

We will continue to manage pricing with agility, drive productivity across our supply chain with particular emphasis on manufacturing, invest behind our brands, innovation and digital capabilities and work closely with our retail partners to deliver the performance and value consumers are looking for.

The third quarter demonstrated the continued progress we have made in building a more resilient Reynolds. Our focus remains on disciplined execution, staying agile as conditions evolve and continuing to deliver against our core priorities. I am very proud of our team for what we have accomplished thus far in 2026, providing continued leadership across our categories while growing earnings against a very dynamic backdrop.

I will now turn the call over to Nathan to walk through our financial results and outlook in more detail. Nathan?

Nathan Lowe

Thanks, Scott, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to review our third quarter results, which were in line with our expectations and demonstrate consistent execution in a dynamic operating environment. Third quarter net revenues increased to $944 million compared with $931 million in the prior year quarter. Retail revenues of $865 million were up slightly from $864 million last year, with the balance of the growth coming from nonretail revenues. As expected, the combination of significant commodity-driven pricing and the resulting elasticities put pressure on retail volumes, which were down 7% during the quarter. .

Pricing more than offset the elasticities on the top line and neutralize the commodity headwind, while productivity improvements across our entire supply chain contributed to gross profit dollar growth despite lower retail volumes. We also continue to invest in R&D, innovation and advertising behind new product launches to support long-term growth. After these continued investments, adjusted EBITDA was $163 million, down $5 million from the prior year. Adjusted net income was $83 million compared with $88 million last year, and adjusted EPS was $0.39 compared with $0.42 in Q3 2025. A reconciliation of our GAAP results to these non-GAAP measures, including the adjustments for the quarter, is provided in the reconciliation tables accompanying our earnings release and in our Form 10-Q.

Third quarter net income was $58 million or $0.28 per share. Stepping back from the individual quarter and year-to-date financial story is straightforward. Commodity inflation increased sequentially. We responded with pricing, which stepped up each quarter. The resulting elasticities, combined with continued pressure on the consumer, drove greater volume headwinds as the year progressed. Against that backdrop, the Reynolds' business system is operating as intended, delivering consistent productivity improvements across the supply chain.

In each quarter, gross profit dollar growth outpaced retail volume performance by at least 8 percentage points. with year-to-date volumes down 3% and gross profit up 6%. Those gains have helped to mitigate inflation and elasticity while also allowing us to continue investing in R&D, innovation and other growth initiatives each quarter. That ability to manage near-term pressure while continuing to strengthen the business is an important part of our operating model.

Turning to our outlook. Our underlying outlook for the business remains unchanged. And -- our full year expectations continue to reflect the pricing actions already implemented, the elasticity we have experienced to date, continued productivity benefits and our current expectations for the consumer and commodity environment.

While commodity levels remain elevated, taken as a whole, our estimate of the incremental annualized commodity headwind remains approximately $400 million. We will continue to take a disciplined and surgical approach to pricing, responding to market conditions as they evolve, while remaining focused on leveraging all of our tools to mitigate the impact of inflation. Against that backdrop, we continue to expect full year 2026 net revenues in a range of plus 1% to plus 3% compared to 2025 net revenues of $3.721 billion, including flat non-retail revenues year-over-year. We are also reiterating our full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook of $660 million to $675 million and expect adjusted net income of $332 million to $345 million and adjusted EPS of $1.57 to $1.63. A full reconciliation to our guided GAAP measures is included in the press release, which assumes no additional adjustments in Q4. Given the timing of the used acquisition, it will have limited impact on fiscal 2026 as such has not warranted a revision to 2026 guidance.

Based on the full year outlook, fourth quarter 2026 net revenues are implied to be in a range of up or down low single digits compared to fourth quarter 2025 net revenues of $1.034 billion. We expect fourth quarter net income to be in the range of $101 million to $114 million with EPS expected in the range of $0.48 to $0.54 and we expect adjusted EBITDA in the range of $196 million to $211 million.

As you consider the fourth quarter, there are a few factors to keep in mind. First, Commodity costs remain an important variable and will continue to manage inflation through pricing and productivity. Second, we expect the consumer environment to remain challenging. And third, we expect continued productivity benefits to help offset higher input costs and the impact of lower year-over-year retail volumes.

Now turning to capital allocation. Our approach remains unchanged. We allocate capital to the opportunities we believe will create the greatest long-term shareholder value. The acquisition of Owl's Head is a good example of that framework in action. Owl's Head's aluminum processing capabilities complement our existing manufacturing network and further vertically integrate our aluminum business. Over time, we believe these capabilities will strengthen our consumer foil business and create opportunities for both growth and margin expansion. Beyond acquiring capabilities, we also continue to evaluate opportunities to bring new brands and categories into our portfolio and create additional growth platforms.

We evaluate these opportunities through the same returns-based framework we apply to organic investments with the attractive returns available from our automation and capital-driven productivity projects setting a high hurdle for the deployment of capital. From a balance sheet perspective, we expect net leverage to remain within our target range of 2x to 2.5x, and we have considerable liquidity to support these investments where we continue to see attractive opportunities across productivity, automation, innovation and growth while maintaining our quarterly dividend and preserving appropriate financial flexibility.

We will remain disciplined in allocating capital across these opportunities with a consistent focus on returns and long-term shareholder value. In summary, our third quarter results demonstrate the operating consistency of our execution and the strength of the capabilities we have built across Reynolds Consumer Products. We have successfully navigated significant commodity inflation, substantial pricing actions and the resulting volume elasticity, while continuing to deliver productivity improvements to invest behind the long-term growth of the business.

As we head into the holiday season and close out 2026, our priorities remain straightforward - deliver against our outlook, capture the productivity opportunities in front of us and continue investing where we see compelling returns. With that, we'll turn it back to the operator for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Peter Grom with UBS. Please proceed with your question..

Fragen und Antworten

Peter Grom

Hope you're doing well. So Scott, you touched on the progress that the business has made, but I was hoping to get some more perspective on innovation. You mentioned continued investments in innovation. Can you maybe unpack that a bit more and share what you are doing differently today? .

Scott Huckins

Peter, thanks for the question. Happy to start with this one. So I think, to reground innovation has always been a core focus for us at RCP. And if anything, I think that's been amplified by having the opportunity through our productivity initiatives to have more capacity to reinvest back in the business. I'd say this year has been quite a bit about 2 things: one, deepening our consumer insights across all of our categories in the business and emphasizing quicker speed to market and more agility. And we think that, that agility and speed to market is quite relevant in this climate where consumers' needs are certainly evolving.

I'd say lastly, we're really focused this year on 3 things. So I'll give some examples. The first is invest behind proven winners. A perfect example of that would be in our color incent portfolio in the waste bag business. Second would be to invest in and innovate against new usage occasions. A good example of that would be the away from home or on the Go Cubs business in tableware. And then the third would be complementary innovation that drives interest in that innovation, but also back to that core or existing category. A good example of that would be in funfoil. And so I think as we reflect on what we've accomplished this year, we're certainly pleased with that progress.

Peter Grom

Great. And then second, just on the fourth quarter. a relatively wide range, particularly on the top line. So can you maybe help us understand what would put you at the high end relative to the low end? And then just related, any early thoughts on how we should be thinking about this exit rate as we begin to think about '27?

Scott Huckins

Peter, I'll take that one. Of course, Q4 is our largest quarter, and we continue to operate in a pretty dynamic environment. So that informs the guidance range. Consistent with the variables we've been tracking all year mainly the consumer elasticities and commodities. These are the factors we would expect to drive us away from the center of the guide in either direction. And this will be back early next year with a thorough view on 2027.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from Rob Ottenstein with Evercore ISI.

Robert Ottenstein

Great. I was just wondering if you can talk about your thoughts on pricing, how incisor the level of urgency there, how retailers are thinking about it in terms of their private label -- and any updated assessments on elasticity, maybe just focused on bags and oil? .

Scott Huckins

Rob, thanks for that question. I guess the first way I'd start is we feel really good about pricing strategy and execution. And I make that comment from 2 places. We've certainly dimensionalized the amount of commodity headwinds. And then second, we've consistently said that we're generally seeing elasticities inside the range that we would expect. And those certainly don't contradict the strategy. I think proof points would be as we look at your request against some of the categories, we've generally taken either dollar share or volume share or both against the other competing brands and the categories, again, depending on which one you're talking about. And I think you also asked about foil I think we're seeing a strong resilience in the category. When we look at year-to-date Q3, virtually any time period, we still see double-digit retail dollar takeaway growth in consumer foil, and that's true for the category given our business. And so we continue to be vigilant and look for opportunities to make surgical adjustments. But I think take it as a whole, I think we're pleased with the outcome that we've delivered.

Robert Ottenstein

Great. And if I can slip 1 more in. in part of the introduction, I think you spent more time than in the past talking about how digital and, I guess, AI, agenetic or changing the field of competition, both with competition, relationship with retailers, engaging with the consumer. So 2 things on that. One, do you feel that you've made the necessary investments to be fully competitive there? And if not, how much incremental investment is needed? And then maybe just 1 example or so of things that you're doing differently now given that new dynamic? .

Scott Huckins

Thanks again. It's a good question. So I think when we reflect on the broad subject of digital, Fundamentally, we're doing 2 things in terms of investing. We're investing in talent, and we're investing in developing further capabilities. So that's the investment side. And I guess the way we think about it, Rob, are we're trying to deliver 4 outcomes. First outcome is make sure that our products are easy to discover, regardless of the source, the research or desire for insights into the products or categories.

Second is to convert that discovery into purchase, so high conversion rates. Third is using that information in those cycles to continue to invest smarter, meaning ROI mindset as we think about where we invest to drive growth in digital. And then the fourth is scale. So take all of those learnings and capabilities and make sure we're scaling those efficiencies. So I do feel like we're making the right investments. And frankly, we continue to see runway here is a further growth vehicle for the future is more and more product discovery is taking place online and with AI.

Robert Ottenstein

And if I can just follow up, again, this may be kind of like the most obvious question and answer. But obviously, right, you want your products to be easier to discover, right? So what is what can you do along that line to make that happen, that may be different or a way in which you're advantaged in that because everybody is going to be trying to do that. So I don't know if there's anything that you can add to that. And then I'll move over to the next question.

Scott Huckins

Yes. So I think there's 2 points there. The first would be our observation is that our core categories really lend themselves to digital shopping. They are typically high repeat items persistently bought through the year. That in turn then facilitates the potential usage of subscription models and platforms for those consumers who want that convenience.

I think in terms of how to make the products more available, discoverable online, a, it's the more macro ad spend or top of funnel investment, whether that be in traditional media or digital media. I think 2 is, as we think about innovation opportunities, bringing those quickly to market to a digital platform, in some instances, makes a lot of sense because the ability to narrate around the products, features and benefits and use cases, I think, in some instances, it can actually be more robust online. So those would be the 2 thoughts on that follow-up question.

Operator

Our next question is from Brian McNamara with Canaccord Genuity.

Brian McNamara

First off, volumes were down across the portfolio in Q3 naturally. So I'm curious where are those volumes going? Is it private label, perhaps other substitutes -- or are consumers simply skipping a trip and doing without or maybe pantry destocking?

Scott Huckins

Brian. Thanks for the question. I guess as we think about the categories, taking them as a whole, we're generally only seeing low single-digit changes in retail takeaways. So we don't see wholesale shifts I'd say we've seen a little bit of an increment in private label share gains across the portfolio, but I emphasize in word a little bit. and take some examples of some of the big categories in our Hefty waste bag business, we're inside of a point of share change. If you look at the Reynolds threat business year-to-date, were somewhere just over 1 point of share change.

So I would consider those as relatively modest in light of the quantum of pricing and the resulting elasticities, and I guess the last question is, where is the volume going? I'd probably say, taken as a whole, we probably see the consumers who are more marginal participants in the categories. probably more exiting private label, and I'll give you a very specific example.

If you look at the Cups category, category is down 4%, 5%, something like that year-to-date. Our business is actually up. We've grown volumes, we've grown dollars out retail takeaways and we've grown share. And so that would be a good example of a case where that marginal consumer is actually exiting the private label portion of the category.

Brian McNamara

Great. That's helpful. And then, I guess, secondarily and related, how would you characterize both promotional activity today relative to 3 months ago? And also consumer health, like -- has consumer health gotten worse compared to 3 months ago? Or has it stayed relatively consistent?

Scott Huckins

Let me take them in reverse order. I think the consumer continues to be challenged at the macro level. probably a little bit of deterioration in each of the quarters as we've moved throughout the year, in part because we've seen more and more commodity inflation broadly throughout the year. So that just creates incremental cost for that consumer, whether it's in our categories, whether it's at the pump in fuel, et cetera.

I'd say the promo environment probably the steepest or strongest in the bags category is plural. So in both waste and storage, my analysis would be that the level of promo would be up versus a year ago, but down sequentially. So Q3's promo activities would be, I think, a bit down from Q2. The however, it's important to keep in mind that some of those promotions ultimately become permanent everyday price points.

So I'd conclude that the environment is still elevated -- but as we reflect on our performance in those 2 categories, we've either taken dollar share, volume share or both again depend on which of those categories we're talking about. So I feel like our strategy has proven effective notwithstanding we certainly acknowledge there's been elasticities taking us all across the categories.

Operator

Our next question is from Nik Modi with RBC Capital Markets.

Nik Modi

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Scott, just a couple of questions. Sorry if I missed this, I was on and off the call. Out of Home, within home, maybe if you could just provide any thoughts on kind of what you're seeing there, if you're seeing we're hearing that out-of-home into home is kind of accelerating as the year has progressed, just given some of the inflationary pressures. So I just would love to get your thoughts on that.

And then the bigger picture question is just going back to your comments about occasions versus category. How willing or open are the retailers in terms of thinking -- rethinking how they actually shelve their aisles, because we are hearing of some kind of radical rethink in certain categories, but I'm just curious if you're seeing any of that take place or being tested in any of your categories?

Scott Huckins

Nick, thanks for both of those questions. So I think on your first one, at home versus away from home. What we're getting at there is we're finding that there is a -- certainly a segment of consumers who are looking for solutions, generally in the categories we participate, but that usage occasion may be outside the home. So I gave an example. -- in prepared remarks of Chill to Go Cups as a very specific example of meeting that consumer need.

So I think the takeaway is we want to be thoughtful about driving innovation against use occasions, whether they be in the home, or away from home. I think it's going to continue to be something that we'll focus on. Your second question is around this notion I've commented on about shopping by occasion, picking up some steam relative to shopping for a product and category. We do see evidence of that I think the retailers are each in different places in that journey. But we certainly do see some retailers developing platforms and delivery mechanisms to facilitate that because again, I think if you combine that there's more and more digital discovery of items and consumers are more and more shopping for an occasion that creates a basket or portfolio that typically meets that need state.

So I think all of us suppliers and retailers are working on. How do we best fulfill that need in a convenient, affordable, effective way with the quality that our consumers come to expect from round.

Operator

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Scott Huckins for closing comments. .

Scott Huckins

Thank you, operator, and I appreciate everyone's time and interest in Reynolds's Consumer Products this morning. Certainly on behalf of our 6,000 teammates, we appreciate that interest and wishing everybody a great rest of your day.

Andrea Teixeira

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.