LAS VEGAS — While AI was top of mind for the more than 10,000 attendees at this year’s Shoptalk Spring conference, The Home Depot doesn’t see it overtaking the physical shopping experience.
“Twenty-five years ago, the conversation was, ‘Is the store going to be relevant in an age of e-commerce?’” Jordan Broggi, executive vice president of customer experience and president of online at Home Depot said during a Wednesday session. But now in the age of AI and agentic commerce, “the store has never been more relevant than it is today.”
But even though the home improvement retailer views the technology as just one avenue for customers to shop within its overall ecosystem, it has made significant strides with AI over the past year.
Home Depot about a year ago introduced Magic Apron, a suite of generative AI tools to help connect customers with the right products. Magic Apron is designed to offer support to customers through a variety of ways, including answering questions and summarizing product reviews.
Earlier this year, the retailer added to its Magic Apron capabilities through an expanded partnership with Google Cloud. Now, customers can engage with the tool using plain language and receive conversational advice and personalized product recommendations. The technology can help users sort through extensive product information, which for a typical DIY customer, can be overwhelming, Broggi said.
“One of our customers’ favorite use cases with Magic Apron is just, ‘Hey, is this faucet compatible with that valve?’” he said.
But Home Depot also understands customer shopping preferences vary: Some customers want to engage with AI tools for assistance, while some know exactly what they want and can search for it quickly on the retailer’s website. And still, others prefer speaking to an associate in store before making a purchase, according to Angie Brown, chief information officer at Home Depot.
“It’s creating the experience that works for a variety of different customers, across a variety of different journeys, and meeting them in the moment for what they need,” Brown said during the Wednesday session.
Providing a more frictionless experience across the entire shopping journey is one of AI’s biggest assets, Broggi said.
“Customers want to be helped, and they want to be helped in the right moment by the right tool,” he said. “And if that's a human, that's a human. If that's a chatbot, that's a chatbot. It's really about: Can I be helpful in the moment?”
