What Does Home Depot do that Lowes Doesn’t ?
What does Home Depot do that Lowes doesn’t in the home improvement chain stores that are one-stop shops for your home, from construction materials to furniture, accessories and home décor.
Who would have guessed that two of the most successful and admired retailers in the business make their money selling 2x4s, plumbing fixtures, and gardening tools in an age of luxury merchandising and technology-fueled e-commerce selling?
Home Depot and Lowe’s are weathering the pandemic better than any other two companies in the country, riding the wave of success they’ve been riding for several years.
What Does Home Depot do that Lowes Doesn’t?
In this sector, both companies perform similar operations, but one is superior to the other and has a greater advantage.
1. Professional Service
Home Depot is significantly more popular with professional contractors than Lowe’s. Professional contractors generate 40% of Home Depot’s revenue but only 30% of Lowe’s.
What’s interesting is that only 3% of Home Depot’s customers are professionals.
Remodelers, general contractors, handymen, property managers, building service contractors, and specialty tradesmen such as installers are among these professionals.
Home Depot’s lead in professional services seems intentional in its branding and store organization.
Home Depot has tall shelves, the highest of which can only be reached by forklift. At Home Depot, you’re likely to come across products that lack signage and tags.
In contrast, Lowe’s employs a blue-and-white color scheme. Lowe’s stores frequently have more elaborate floor displays or themed products like patio sets. Lowe’s products are less likely to be missing tags or labels.
2. Online Experience and E-commerce
If there’s one area where Home Depot is outperforming Lowe’s, it’s in e-commerce and online shopping.
Home Depot ranks fifth in the 2020 Top 1000 Report, which ranks the top online retailers in the United States based on web sales. Lowe’s, on the other hand, is ranked 22nd.
Home Depot began its online transformation years before Lowe’s. Lowe’s admitted in 2019 that it was operating on a ten-year-old platform!
In fact, the Lowe’s website crashed during the 2018 Black Friday sales. Ouch!
3. Truck Rental
Truck rentals are available at Home Depot and Lowe’s stores on a first come, first served basis. The majority of the time, the cheapest option is to rent a truck from a local rental company.
4. Tool Rental Selection
In terms of tool rentals, Home Depot clearly outperforms Lowe’s.
Lowe’s rents tools in 20 different categories as of January 2021. Home Depot, on the other hand, rents tools from over 40 different categories.
For example, you can rent a 5-ton excavator from Home Depot. You can’t from Lowe’s!
5. Compensation and Benefits
This is a significant factor influencing customer service. How a company’s employees treat customers reflects, in part, how that company treats its employees.
Lowe’s pays slightly more and treats their employees better than Home Depot. Employees who switched from Home Depot to Lowe’s received a $1 to $3 pay raise.
Lowe’s also has a better workplace culture than Home Depot. Lowe’s, for example, offers part-time benefits and some weekend time off.
Home depots is more advantageous than Lowe’s in most occasion but Lowe’s still stand a chance of improving in their operation and taking the lead in home the improvement sector.
CSN Team.