4.5 minutes

In terms of online retail sales alone, Lowe's brought in about $10 billion more in 2024 than the next-largest retailer in the Hardware & Home Improvement category, and Home Depot brought in over $10 billion more than that.

The Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos. Inc. both reported online sales results for their fiscal fourth quarters as consumers slowed home improvement spending.

Home Depot reported online sales increased 9% in its fiscal Q4 ended Feb. 2. Meanwhile, Lowe’s said online sales grew 9.5% in its fiscal Q4 ended Jan. 31. Home Depot reported growth and in overall sales for the quarter, while Lowe’s sales remained flat year over year.

Home Depot ranks No. 4 in the Top 2000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. Lowe’s ranks No. 11 in the Top 2000. Digital Commerce 360 categorizes both as Hardware & Home Improvement retailers.

How are Home Depot and Lowe’s handling tariffs?

Home Depot CEO Ted Decker said the retailer has “the best team to manage through any tariff environment which would impact the industry broadly.”

Home Depot’s diversification efforts have been “quite good over the last six or seven years,” he said.

Billy Bastek, executive vice president of merchandising, added that Home Depot has “been through this before” and will continue assessing the tariffs’ impact on the retailer’s business.

Meanwhile, Lowe’s chief financial officer Brandon Sink said the retailer has “not explicitly included or incorporated in our guide in terms of what’s recently been enacted, but I would say there, the situation is very fluid.”

“Our teams are already activating against the tariffs that have been enacted,” Sink said. “We’re running the play, we’re keeping a close watch on other potential policy changes or announcements that may be coming and prepared to respond.”

Home Depot and Lowe’s 2024 sales comparison

As the leading Hardware & Home Improvement retailers in the U.S., Home Depot and Lowe’s sales far eclipse those of their competitors in the category. In terms of online sales alone, Lowe’s brought in about $10 billion more in 2024 than the next-largest retailer in the category, Ferguson, according to Digital Commerce 360 data.

Still, while Lowe’s brought in more than $11 billion online and $83.67 billion in total sales, Home Depot raked in much more in 2024. Home Depot online sales more than doubled Lowe’s in 2024, and its total sales hit $159.5 billion.

Part of Home Depot’s 2024 sales growth came from acquiring SRS Distribution, which helped it set a new company sales record. Meanwhile, Lowe’s total sales have been on a downward trend since 2022.

Home Depot and Lowe’s Q4 online sales comparison

Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison called the current home improvement market challenging in the retailer’s Q4 earnings call with investors.

“We’re still seeing a cautious consumer leading to continued near term pressure on DIY discretionary spending, particularly in bigger ticket projects,” he said.

Lowe’s reported record-breaking sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday. It also pointed to strong interest from consumers in the free DIY loyalty program and MyLowe’s Rewards as growth factors. The company recently launched a revamped loyalty program for Pro customers. It’s also launching an AI-powered Home Improvement Virtual Adviser on Lowes.com, which it expects to further boost online interaction and sales.

Meanwhile, Bastek attributed the growth in Home Depot online sales in Q4 to focuses on:

  • Continuous improvements to the shopping and browsing experience
  • Enhancing the delivery and post-delivery experience
  • Leveraging AI to enhance chat features and product descriptions
  • Creating rating summaries for customers

Omnichannel fulfillment at Lowe’s and Home Depot

Home Depot’s Decker said the retailer’s delivery speeds are now the fastest they’ve ever been. As a result, customers are increasing their online spending. Additionally, Home Depot has more fulfillment options than ever before, including same- and next-day delivery. Delivery speed is part of creating a strong customer experience, which drives higher engagement and conversion, he said.

Part of that comes from investments in Home Depot’s flatbed distribution centers (FDCs).

“Our investments in the FDC network have improved the in store experience by taking many deliveries out of the store, which reduces clutter in the aisles from staged orders,” Campbell told investors. “As a result, our in-stock have improved and our associate availability is higher. The FDC has also enabled faster delivery, expanded fulfillment options and more consistent on-time and complete delivery of larger orders directly to the job site.”

Similarly, Joseph McFarland, Lowe’s executive vice president of stores, said it’s now easier than ever for the retailer’s customers to get in and out of stores quickly when picking up online orders.

“We continue to deliver strong customer satisfaction scores, including improved satisfaction with our BOPIS (or buy online, pick up in store) process, which we enhanced through our front-end transformation,” McFarland said.

He added that “the strong customer endorsement is particularly meaningful” because roughly half of Lowe’s online sales are picked up in its physical stores. “It tells us that the investments we’ve been making in our front-end transformation are paying off.”

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