Lowe’s quietly edges past Home Depot in battle for shoppers

Lowe’s has outpaced Home Depot, its apical competitor, successful the ongoing combat for user dollars amid economical pressures successful the location betterment sector. Despite the progress, Lowe’s CEO is proceeding cautiously amid shifting user behaviour and a increasing menace to aboriginal sales.

In the 4th fourth of 2025, Lowe’s saw its comparable income summation by 1.3% twelvemonth implicit year, according to the company’s astir caller net report. However, its operating income fell by astir 6.6%.

Lowe’s show was amended than Home Depot’s during the quarter. Home Depot saw its U.S. comparable income summation 0.3% twelvemonth implicit year, portion its operating income declined 14.4%.

The summation successful Lowe’s income follows its enlargement of merchandise offerings for Pro customers. In June past year, the retailer acquired Artisan Design Group (ADG) for $1.3 billion. ADG specializes successful providing design, organisation and installation services.

Lowe’s besides completed its $8.8 cardinal acquisition of Foundation Building Materials, a starring distributor of interior gathering products, successful October.

Additionally, Lowe’s doubled down connected making deals it launches successful its MyLowe’s Rewards app much generous and accrued its concern successful artificial quality to further fastener successful customers.

Despite having a limb up connected Home Depot successful comparable sales, Lowe’s saw somewhat steeper dips successful its ft postulation than its rival during the quarter. Recent information from Placer.ai recovered that Lowe’s same-store visits fell 2.2% successful October, roseate 2.9% successful November, and dropped 1.5% successful December.

Home Depot’s same-store ft postulation lone declined by 1.5% successful October, accrued by 3% successful November and dipped 0.5% successful December.

During an net telephone connected Feb. 25, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said that portion the institution saw affirmative income growth, determination is “persistent volatility successful the lodging macro,” which continues to person a large domino effect connected user behavior.

“This uncertainty continues to unit big-ticket, discretionary DIY projects, arsenic galore consumers are reluctant to marque important investments successful their homes,” helium said.

Over the past fewer years, galore consumers person enactment ample home-improvement projects connected intermission owed to elevated owe rates successful the U.S. lodging market. However, these rates person been steadily decreasing successful caller months.

For example, successful January, the mean 30-year fixed-rate owe was 6.10%, down from 6.19% successful December, according to information from Freddie Mac.

Despite declining involvement rates, problems remain. Existing-home income fell 4.4% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful January, portion the median existing-home income terms roseate 0.9% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $396,800, according to information from the National Association of Realtors.

"The alteration successful income is disappointing,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun successful a property release. “The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January marque it harder than accustomed to measure the underlying operator of the alteration and find if this month’s numbers are an aberration.”

Related: Home Depot and Lowe's softly summation caller rival

Yun besides flagged that the summation successful the median location terms was “due to debased supply.”

During the call, Ellison said that “consumer assurance remains subdued” owed to inflationary pressures and wide economical uncertainty. Amid this shift, Lowe’s expects marketplace betterment to beryllium slow.

“Despite humble alleviation successful short-term involvement rates and marketplace expectations for further Fed cuts, owe rates stay elevated,” said Ellison. “As a result, a persistent lock-in effect remains successful place, keeping lodging turnover and caller location starts nether pressure, starring america to expect betterment successful some the lodging and location betterment markets to beryllium gradual.”

For the afloat twelvemonth of 2026, Lowe’s expects comparable income maturation to either beryllium level oregon up 2%, compared to the anterior year.

For income to scope the precocious extremity of that range, the institution said it would person to spot an uptick successful consumers tackling big-ticket discretionary projects, benefits from taxation refund spend, Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) enactment and continued momentum successful immoderate of its halfway concern areas.

Lowe’s is besides betting large connected its accrued concern successful artificial quality to assistance thrust up sales.

For example, it launched an AI instrumentality called Mylow Companion past year, which aims to amended lawsuit work by providing income associates accelerated entree to merchandise details, task proposal and inventory information. Ellison said this instrumentality has resulted successful “dramatic improvements successful lawsuit service.”

He besides flagged that Lowe’s volition motorboat caller AI tools this twelvemonth for its merchants to “make their workday much efficient, freeing up clip for them to absorption connected driving income and optimizing our merchandise assortments.”

“We acceptable an interior model that AI volition assistance america amended however we sell, shop, and work,” said Ellison. “Basically, arsenic we deliberation astir AI internally, we framework it astir those 3 strategical areas of our business. As a effect of that, we’re precise focused connected employing AI to assistance our associates sell, to amended the buying situation for our customers, some in-store and online, and creating productivity successful the workspace, some in-store and astatine our store enactment center.”

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Lowe’s accrued reliance connected AI comes arsenic Home Depot is besides ramping up its AI usage to amended lawsuit service.

In September past year, Home Depot introduced a Project Planning instrumentality for its Pro customers (residential and commercialized nonrecreational contractors). The instrumentality allows them to make worldly lists, personalize transportation preferences, way and negociate orders, and summation penetration into aboriginal pricing and inventory levels.

Home Depot aboriginal expanded its concern with Google Cloud, which volition pb to the motorboat of further AI tools to assistance associates and customers successful completing location betterment projects.

These tools person “resulted successful higher sales,” Billy Bastek, Home Depot enforcement vice president of merchandising, said during an net telephone connected Feb. 24. Home Depot plans to soon present further AI tools to enactment task absorption and assistance with list-building for its Pro customers.

It is nary astonishment that Lowe’s and Home Depot are experimenting with AI to boost their lawsuit service. A J.D. Power survey past twelvemonth recovered that worker assistance is simply a cardinal origin successful user restitution with location betterment retailers. It besides recovered that Lowe’s beats Home Depot erstwhile it comes to making customers happy.

• Consumers successful the location betterment class gave the assemblage an average restitution score of 671 retired of 1,000.

• Lowe’s leads the segment, earning the highest people of 680.

• Ace Hardware follows intimately behind with a restitution standing of 672. 

• Menard’s ranks conscionable below Ace Hardware with a 699 score.

• Home Depot takes 4th spot as it received a noticeably little mean people of 641.
  Source: J.D. Power

Michael Taylor, elder managing manager of the retail quality signifier astatine J.D. Power, said successful a connection that “the collaborative nature” of customers and employees tackling the aforesaid extremity has enhanced the buying experience.

“Customers are coming into stores with greater cognition of what they want, [and] if store employees tin marque adjuvant suggestions, it increases the likelihood that customers volition instrumentality to that store,” said Taylor.

Related: Home Depot CEO raises alarm bells connected user occupation successful stores

This communicative was primitively published by TheStreet connected Feb 28, 2026, wherever it archetypal appeared successful the Retail section. Add TheStreet arsenic a Preferred Source by clicking here.