Earned & PaidChewy
Chewy spent $825M on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2026, up 2.6% on the year before and +110% since 2019. That's 6.5% of revenue, less than in 2019: the business outgrew its marketing.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“This cadence reflects attractive opportunities we are seeing to invest in brand awareness ahead of the holiday season.”Christopher S. Deppe · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“So for Q2, we leaned in a bit, and, you know, we did not tolerate any deterioration in marketing efficiency.”Sumit Singh · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“You also heard on the earnings call that we said we expect to lean in a bit and, you know, invest in brand building.”Sumit Singh · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“As we have consistently stated, our marketing strategy remains focused on profitable customer acquisition and long-term lifetime value generation, and we continue to see strong returns across both lower and upper funnel investments.”Chris Deppe · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“What we've seen is the halo of the Chewy brand when a box is dropped in a particular MSA attracts with very little local activation, attracts high-quality set of customers to CVC, therefore, making our overall acquisition costs also highly efficient.”management · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“The Chewy brand awareness is helping a lot.”Sumit Singh · 2026 Q1 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- investing in brand “• Acquire new customers. We intend to increase brand awareness and reach new customers by investing free cash flow from our existing customer base in advertising and marketing to acquire new customers from existing and new channels. Given the high levels of customer satisfaction…” 10-K, Mar 25, 2026
- investing in brand “We have made significant investments related to customer acquisition and expect to continue to spend significant amounts to acquire additional customers. We cannot assure you that the net sales from the new customers we acquire will ultimately exceed the cost of acquiring those…” 10-K, Mar 25, 2026
- investing in brand “ting successfully with incumbent providers who may have longer operating histories, large customer bases, high brand recognition and greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do. To compete effectively, we have invested and may need to invest additional…” 10-K, Mar 25, 2026
- investing in brand “Advertising and marketing expenses for Fiscal Year 2025 increased by $20.8 million, or 2.6%, to $824.9 million compared to $804.1 million in Fiscal Year 2024. Our marketing expenses increased due to additional investment in our lower and upper funnel marketing channels to new…” 10-K, Mar 25, 2026
Say vs do
Of the 1 statement about its marketing budget that the filings can check, 1 held up.
What they said
“Advertising and marketing expenses for Fiscal Year 2025 increased by $20.8 million, or 2.6%, to $824.9 million compared to $804.1 million in Fiscal Year 2024. Our marketing expenses increased due to additional investment in our lower and upper funnel marketing channels to new…”
The FY2026 10-K, Mar 25, 2026 · 10-K
Backed by the filings Filed marketing spend, FY2025 → FY2026: $804M → $825M (+2.6%)
“This cadence reflects attractive opportunities we are seeing to invest in brand awareness ahead of the holiday season.”
Christopher S. Deppe on the 2026 Q2 earnings call, Sep 9, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of a year; filings report full years.
“As we have consistently stated, our marketing strategy remains focused on profitable customer acquisition and long-term lifetime value generation, and we continue to see strong returns across both lower and upper funnel investments.”
Chris Deppe on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, Jun 10, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of a year; filings report full years.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $825M | +2.6% | 6.5% |
| FY2025 | $804M | +8.4% | 6.8% |
| FY2024 | $742M | +14.3% | 6.7% |
| FY2023 | $649M | +4.8% | 6.4% |
| FY2022 | $619M | +20.7% | 6.9% |
| FY2021 | $513M | +20.1% | 7.2% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 3 other Marketplace advertisers we track (eBay, Etsy, Wayfair): since 2019 its marketing spend went +110% (peer median +191%); its share of revenue moved -4.6 pts (median +2.7); last year +2.6% (median 0.0%).
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “And our targeting conversion CRM and app capabilities are the areas we essentially leaned in on.” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · Sep 9, 2026 · source
- Measurement “So Mike, in terms of customer acquisition costs relative to digital, this has been a pleasant surprise for us.” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · Jun 10, 2026 · source
- Paid search · Paid social “We are thoughtfully ramping off-site across search and social, with demand exceeding internal expectations.” [Sumit Singh] on the earnings call · Jun 11, 2025 · source
- Creative campaigns · Sponsorships & athletes · Experiential & events “We believe Chewy's passion for pets perfectly aligned with Torontonians' passion for the Maple Leafs, and we are bringing this to life with dynamic advertising and interactive fan moments during games at Scotiabank Arena.” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · Dec 4, 2024 · source
- Retail media “Sponsored Ads are ramping well, too. Nothing else to report.” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · Dec 4, 2024 · source
What they see in the market
What its leaders and filings say about the ad market: its own ad business, or the channels advertisers use, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Retail media “So, you know, sponsored ads will, will continue, to grow, and, you know, I think you can continue to expect that next year as well.” Christopher S. Deppe on the earnings call · Sep 9, 2026 · source
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “I talked about creating applications that will allow consumers not only to self-serve, so post-purchase support but also in purchase discoverability and conversion, right, with the use of AI that drives personalization driven by memory we call injection of pet profile data, type…” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · Jun 2, 2026 · source
- Programmatic & display “And so then we combine that with on-site and off-site formats increasingly tied together through Chewy data.” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · Jun 2, 2026 · source
- Creative campaigns “Last quarter, I mentioned us bringing forward even more products to life, such as branded search ads on the platform. We've done that now.” Sumit Singh on the earnings call · May 29, 2024 · source