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I visited Home Depot and Lowe’s to compare the two home improvement giants.
Home Depot is targeted at professionals, while Lowe’s aims for DIYers.
Home Depot continues to have higher sales.
Home Depot and Lowes are home improvement competitors who’ve both benefitted from the boom in renovations over the last few years. I visited both to see how they compare.Claudia Teyssandier, Zillow Offers Renovation Estimator, and J Myers, Zillow Offers National Renovation Manager, evaluate a home for a possible purchase by Zillow on August 20, 2019 in Lauderhill, Florida.
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Home Depot just reported a successful quarter with nearly $39 billion in sales, surpassing analyst expectations.
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Source: CNBC
When I visited in the spring, the parking lot was busy on a Tuesday afternoon, and as I walked in I noticed a sign directing curbside pickup customers.
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Many retailers, including Home Depot, added or expanded curbside offerings that experts credit with helping them survive the pandemic.
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Source: Insider
Walking up to the store, I was struck by how much greenery was everywhere, from flowering plants to vegetable seedlings.
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Home Depot, at least at my location, essentially doubles in size in the spring, when the nursery spills outside into a large uncovered area, plus the gardening section and in front of the store.
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Home Depot is typically associated with home improvement, but there was plenty to look at for a completely non-handy person with a green thumb.
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Plants were arranged by variety and growing zone, which is helpful for anyone from experts to novices.
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The rows and rows of plants looked nearly endless.
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The planting season is important for Home Depot, especially with customers trending towards trading up for more expensive garden purchases in the third quarter, EVP of merchandising Jeff Kinnaird said in the call.
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As you walk through the patio plant area, you enter the garden section, which is covered but still open to the outside.
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That section stocks all kinds of gardening supplies, like pots, fertilizers, and garden hoes.
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That section also contains mulch and other landscaping supplies.
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The garden center also has its own cashier, so customers only interested in the outdoor area don’t have to go in the main store.
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Next I walked into the main part of the store.
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Home Depot is a huge warehouse store with dozens of aisles stacked to the ceiling with home improvement supplies.
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Home Depot is a huge warehouse store with dozens of aisles stacked to the ceiling with home improvement supplies.
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Besides standard light bulbs, all different kinds of light fixtures hang from the tall shelves on display.
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You could get everything to outfit a house besides furniture there, from flooring to ceiling light fixtures.
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Carpet samples are available to touch and make color comparisons.
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The same goes for flooring, which has multiple aisles dedicated to the different types.
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There are more practical, less design-oriented elements of home improvement too, like caulking.
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A section in the center of the store is dedicated to appliances, with mock setups showing how different cupboards, cabinets, and light fixtures look alongside them.
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There are also ovens, microwaves, and dishwashers.
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Side by side refrigerators make it easy to compare specifications and find the right one.
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Home Depot replicates that with washing machines and other appliances, with desks for sales people to work with customers nearby.
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The far end of the store seems more oriented towards contractors and other home improvement professionals, with aisles containing piles and piles of wood.
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There are carts and ladders all over.
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Lumber prices have been highly impacted by inflation, and Decker said in the earnings call that he expects lumber sales to go up in the second quarter.
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Home Depot markets and sells to both professional and amateur home improvement customers. Just under half of sales come from professionals.
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Source: CNBC
For both types of customers, the “vast majority” of purchases are for homes, rather than rentals or other projects, Decker said.
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According to Executive VP and CFO Richard McPhail, Home Depot’s homeowner customers are more likely to invest in improving their homes as values increase, and prices have increased at the fastest rate in over 40 years.
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End caps and smaller sections near the checkout seem more aimed towards amateurs, like different types of toolsets.
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Next I went to Lowes, which in my area is located just down the street from Home Depot.
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Lowes also saw a boom during the pandemic, though sales were lower than Home Depot last quarter at $23.5 billion, up 2.2% from the same period in 2021.
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My first impression was that the two stores feel nearly identical.
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Lowes also had a massive outdoor gardening that served as an entrance to the store.
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I walked through the garden area into the main area of the store.
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Like at Home Depot, there was outdoor furniture and other items customers might buy for their yards or decks.
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There were supplies for shoppers who would be working on their landscaping themselves, like gardening gloves and plant fertilizers.
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I was surprised to find clothing and accessories for sale, mostly from John Deere, in this section.
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Moving into the main area of the store, it was organized almost exactly the same as Home Depot.
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I noticed Lowes seemed to have more displays of how different finishes and appliances would look set up in a home, though Home Depot had some of these displays, too.
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This follows with Lowe’s strategy of targeting DIY customers, who make up 75% of sales, the company said in its q3 earnings call.
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It makes sense that customers doing a renovation project on their own home might need more direction and help picturing a finished project than a professional contractor.
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There were at least 10 different shower and bathroom setups on displays for customers to inspect.
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Other aspects of Lowes pointed to the DIY customer base, too.
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There were more organizational products than at Home Depot.
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I also found more decor merchandise in general, like throw pillows, vases, and baskets.
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There was even a small section of faux plants, which feels more in line with decor and interior design than home renovation and gardening.
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More of the store was dedicated to decor than I expected, like this welcome mat display.
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There was a major emphasis on lawn decor and flags…
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…along with other outdoor decor that would fit in in any suburban street.
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Other products seemed designed specifically to appeal to non-professionals, like peel and stick carpet tiles.
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Some areas of the store seemed similar to Home Depot, but the branding was different.
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For example, Lowe’s carries Magnolia Home paint, which is associated with Joanna Gaines of HGTV fame.
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After visiting both stores, I believe that they’re more alike than different, with some key distinctions.
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Lowes is organized around a DIY customer who likely needs more guidance choosing the right pieces than a seasoned contractor might.
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This shows up in the form of models that feel almost like a showroom within the store.
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Home Depot is more oriented towards professional contractors, who don’t need the same guidance and help as DIYers.
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The differences are subtle enough that I think either kind of shopper could probably find what they need easily at both stores.
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It’s possible the store designs will converge even further as Home Depot seeks more DIY customers, and professionals become a bigger portion of customers at Lowes.
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Home Depot continues to have the edge with higher sales numbers, but Lowes is definitely still in the game.
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Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.
