Lowe's vs. Home Depot

There are two Home Depots and two Lowe’s within a 7 mile radius of my home. I shop at both and have done many renovation and construction projects around my home. I also worked at Home Depot for about 6 months. My observations:

Home Depot is more oriented towards contractors and professionals than Lowe’s. This means that the selection of most categories of materials and items is greater and often of somewhat better quality. The big exception is in their stock of lumber and sheet goods. In my area, the quality of the lumber and plywood at Lowe’s tends to be better.

Home Depot stock more items than Lowe’s.

Home Depot stores are usually dirty and cluttered, especially the older stores. For some reason, they insist on putting displays and merchandise in the aisles which makes it hard to navigate . Lowe’s tends to be much cleaner and somewhat better organized. Overall, Lowe’s is a much more pleasant shopping experience.

I find the range and quality of the tools at HD to be better than Lowe’s. I own several Ryobi power tools (HD’s lower range home project-oriented brand) and have absolutely no complaints about them. Lowe’s equivalent (The Kobalt line) seems to be of lesser quality to me. HD’s Rigid tool line is reliable and very good quality. I don’t think that Lowe’s has an equivalent, although they do sell Craftsman tools…but Craftsman hasn’t been high quality for a long time now.

Lowe’s has a much better selection of trim and moldings. I actually went to Lowe’s this morning to buy molding for the kitchen remodel project I’m doing. After being disappointed with the selection at HD, I found that Lowe’s had what I wanted.

The quality of help and advice you get from the employees varies. In general, it seems to me that HD employees tend to be more experienced and knowledgeable than Lowe’s folks, but this varies considerably. When I worked at HD, I dealt with a few people who were complete idiots as well as some who had worked in the trades for many years and knew what they were talking about. At Lowe’s, I’ve dealt with people who were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful as well as people who appeared to be incapable of screwing in a light bulb. So it depends on what department/what items I’m looking for. The flooring and tile folks at the nearest Lowe’s are really terrific while the ones at HD are useless. Vice versa for kitchen cabinets.

My general impression is that Lowe’s is style-oriented and more for the homeowner crowd. HD is more oriented toward the professional and hardcore dyi crowd.

When you’re looking to be successful in the residential building materials market, two big names jump out at you: Lowe’s and Home Depot. And for good reason: they represent the largest market share in the industry.

There are important things to consider if you are trying to get your product into one of these two giants (or, if they already stock you, how to be more successful).

One of the first things you should consider is the difference between Lowe’s and Home Depot. That single question can help point you in the right direction and ensure that you have the best opportunity to sell your products.

Big companies like these may seem slow to change, but in reality, they are quite nimble and changing all the time. They are constantly testing very innovative ways to market and sell. They learn from each test and then choose whether or not to adopt the approaches, products and brands that pass those tests.

The point I am making is that they are not static. Even if the logo doesn’t change, the Home Depot you see today will be a different Home Depot a year from now.