Home Depot makes two major changes to win back customers 

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of doing something by yourself; fixing something broken or building something new. Remember when you were a kid and you went to the store all by yourself for the first time, how proud you felt, how accomplished. As adults, we can have a similar feeling when we build a piece of furniture, or fix something broken in the house. 

It is an amazing feeling of independence and purpose. My husband and I spent countless hours working on our house together, and not only did we make a lovely home, but we also grew even closer. Unfortunately, today, people are having less and less time, or fewer resources to deal with home improvements. 

Two home improvement giants, Home Depot and Lowe’s, both experienced foot traffic declines, especially in the first half of 2025. In Q1, year-over-year foot traffic declined 3.8% for Home Depot and 3.5% for Lowe’s, due to “sluggish housing market and other economic headwinds,” according to data from Placer.ai. 

While the second half of the year was better for both major home retail chains, fewer people have been visiting these types of stores overall, “due to price increases, job losses, and higher interest rates,” explained long-time Wall Street analyst and TheStreet Co-Editor-in-Chief Todd Campbell.

In November 2025, Campbell wrote about Home Depot being under pressure due to the changes in customer behavior such as: 

• Fewer visits: Foot traffic decline. 
• Project scaling: Instead of massive, luxurious renovations (like a full kitchen remodel) homeowners are sticking to smaller, essential repairs or DIY projects. 
• Budget strain: High mortgage rates and the rising cost of living have made it harder for people to take out loans like Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC) to cover for big home improvements. 
• Value focus: Customers are much more focused on finding deals and high-ROI (return on investment) upgrades rather than purely on aesthetic upgrades. 

To address all these challenges, Home Depot just made two major strategic moves, improving high-tech utility with AI-powered project planning and on-site convenience through partnerships with Wahlburgers. 

Home Depot launches Material List Builder AI

The home improvement king announced on Jan. 26 it is launching a new Material List Builder AI to help professional renovators, builders and specialty tradespeople to create actionable project material lists within minutes. 

The new feature uses AI technology to interpret the project intent and generate a grouped list of materials needed for the entire job. 

How Home Depot’s Material List Builder AI works 

• Natural Language: Users can describe the project in plain English, for example: “We're doing a primary bathroom remodel, replacing the double vanity with a more modern one, adding new recessed lighting, two new mirrors, and a new toilet.” 
• Voice-to-Text: Contractors can create lists hands-free.
• File Uploads: Pros can copy and paste existing lists directly from spreadsheets, texts, emails, notes apps or other documents and the AI will automatically identify the matching Home Depot products.
• Starter Templates: For common jobs like bathroom renovations, kitchen renovations, or deck installations, AI provides a pre-made foundation to build upon.
  Source: Home Depot 

"Pros often tell us that their most valuable resource for any job is time, so we're focused on delivering solutions that empower Pros to work smarter and faster. Material List Builder AI generates reliable, comprehensive job lists in a fraction of the time it would take to complete this process manually, and Pros can then spend more time focused on their customers and the job at hand,” said Mike Rowe, executive vice president of Pro for The Home Depot. 

Related: 4 modern-day boycotts of major brands: Did they work?

Why Home Depot’s AI matters 

Home Depot has always prided itself on providing expertise in addition to standard retail service. In fact, its reputation for expertise was built on a deliberate strategy of hiring retired tradespeople.

In 2004, Home Depot was the first major retailer to form a national partnership with American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), according to the report by The Seattle Times. 

However, newer reviews on platforms such as retirement.jobs suggest a change over the recent years with a few older workers claiming that the company has begun recruiting younger workers. 

The latest strategic moves indicates that Home Depot aims to reestablish its experience authority and it is taking it to another level, by utilizing modern technology. 

“Customers expect the retailer to be an authority on their home improvement projects, and that level of customer service needs to carry over to AI-powered interactions,” Jordan Broggi, president of online and EVP of customer experience told CX Dive. 

By automating the list-making part of the project, Home Depot is betting on more loyalty from Pros who want to spend less time in the aisles and more time on the job site. 

This is not the only key move Home Depot has made this year in a bid to increase its foot traffic and reconfirm dominance in the home improvement retail sector. 

Home Depot adds Wahlburgers’ food trailers right outside stores 

On Jan. 26, Wahlburgers, the popular burger brand founded by Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg and his brothers, Donnie and Chef Paul, announced new high-traffic locations and extension of strategic partnerships, including the one with Home Depot. 

And while Home Depot has almost always had food offering, those were usually local hot dog vendors, making these Wahlburgers trailers a kind of modern, higher-level version of the old hot dog stand that long-time customers remember from the 90s. 

Wahlburgers at Home Depot highlights 

• Food Trailers: Rather than building full restaurants inside, Wahlburgers is deploying custom food trailers parked right outside stores.
• Current Rollout: The pilot has already launched at three Florida locations (Rockledge, Stuart, and Vero Beach), with a massive national expansion planned throughout 2026.
• The Goal: For Wahlburgers this is a part of a growth strategy to meet customers where they already spend their time, whether that’s a hardware store or an airport. For Home Depot, however, the goal is to enhance on-site convenience for its customers.
  Source: Wahlburgers 

Industry data confirms consumers are value-oriented and rely on AI 

Industry experts agree that that these two latest moves should bound well with today's consumers' demands.

"Home Depot is leaning into experience in a smart way. The AI tools make projects easier, but the Wahlburgers trailers give people a reason to actually come in and spend time. Foot traffic is down, and this shows that if you want shoppers back, you need to give them something they can’t get online. Consumers want experiences," said RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino in a statement to TheStreet.

More Retail:

• 63-year-old luxury retail chain shuts down key stores
• Costco sees major shift in member behavior
• Lululemon struggles to reverse concerning customer behavior

Recent industry data confirms that consumers are no longer reluctant to use AI assistance for shopping purposes. In fact, 71% of consumers want to shop with help from generative AI, according to December 2025 data from Capital One Shopping. 

Moreover, a 2026 Retail Industry Global Outlook by Deloitte suggests that in 2026 “retailers may face a structural shift toward value-seeking contemplating what constitutes a fair price.”

To compete in a value-seeking environment, retailers should evaluate their consumer proposition across price, quality, experience and trust factors. 

“The winners in this new era will likely be those investing in technology-enabled capabilities that can empower brands to improve quality, attitude, and trust, and create personalized experiences that feel worth the price,” concludes Deloitte. 

With these two strategic moves, Home Depot is aiming to offer more efficient and hospitable service, which just might be a winning ticket. 

Related: Discount retail chain suddenly closes multiple locations