Home Depot and Lowe’s AI Assistants Take Different Paths to Customer Success
Home Depot and Lowe’s both launched AI assistants last year, but their strategies for enhancing customer experience differ. Home Depot’s Magic Apron focuses on solving customer problems and helping them achieve their home improvement goals, regardless of how they shop. According to Sarah Post, VP of interconnected experience at Home Depot, customers prioritize problem-solving and realizing their dreams over the specifics of digital or in-store experiences.
Lowe’s Mylow takes a different approach by treating every customer journey as a mission, whether it’s a simple purchase or a large remodeling project. Neelima Sharma, SVP of omnichannel and e-commerce technology at Lowe’s, explained that Mylow is designed to support both types of journeys by providing quick, frictionless solutions.
Recent updates highlight the distinct approaches of each retailer. In August, Home Depot added localized store knowledge to Magic Apron to improve in-store guidance, while Lowe’s introduced Mylow Memory, which enhances personalization by using customer context. Nikki Baird, VP of strategy and product at Aptos Retail, emphasized the importance of understanding customer intent to achieve effective AI-powered personalization.
Magic Apron supports the entire customer journey with capabilities built around three common needs: locating specific items, answering product questions, and guiding customers through projects. The tool uses multimodal features, including voice, text, and visual search, to streamline the shopping experience. Customers engage with Magic Apron millions of times each month, often starting their journeys by seeking inspiration.
Mylow Memory aims to make the AI assistant feel like a personal associate by using data such as browsing history, past questions, and completed projects to provide context-specific advice. Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s President and CEO, noted that Mylow has fielded over 25 million questions and boosted the conversion rate of online customers by three times compared to those who don’t use the assistant.
Both retailers are committed to evolving their AI assistants to meet changing customer habits. Neelima Sharma anticipates that customers will increasingly rely on AI technology, similar to how search engines have become essential tools.