Home Depot Enhances In-Store Experience with AI
Home Depot has rolled out a significant enhancement to its AI shopping assistant, known as Magic Apron, which now includes knowledge specific to each store location. This development aims to streamline the shopping experience for customers, allowing them to locate items quickly, ask detailed product questions, and receive expert advice on projects.
Enhanced Features for Shoppers
The expanded Magic Apron offers multiple means for shoppers to interact, including via text input, voice-to-text, and image search capabilities. It helps customers navigate through stores more efficiently, answer product queries, and provide personalised project guidance. This tool is accessible across all of Home Depot’s more than 2,000 stores in the United States. Shoppers can activate it through the Store Mode on Home Depot’s mobile app or by scanning QR codes displayed in stores.
Localized and Multi-Language Support
With Magic Apron, customers can now receive store maps and locate specific products by aisle, along with information on item availability in their current store and other locations. The assistant supports interactions in multiple languages, enhancing accessibility for a diverse customer base. This update is an extension of the Store Mode feature, which was established in 2022.
Digital and Physical Integration
Jordan Broggi, Executive Vice President of Interconnected Retail at Home Depot, stated, “Magic Apron takes the best of our digital expertise and brings it into the physical store, creating a more connected shopping experience that helps customers find products, get project guidance and make decisions faster.” Broggi emphasized that the store associates continue to play a central role in the shopping experience, with Magic Apron serving as an additional resource for guidance and support.
Growth and Development
Magic Apron originally launched in March 2025, offering generative AI tools to address customer inquiries, generate search results, suggest products, perform how-to instructions, and summarize reviews. Currently, the AI responds to millions of customer inquiries each month. Home Depot further expanded its capabilities in partnership with Google Cloud in January, aiming to enhance interaction with customers through natural language processing and conversational advice.
Reporting based on coverage first published by retaildive.com.