Recognizing the need for a strong customer-first digital shopping experience, The Home Depot developed a digital strategy in 2015, and is still making this a primary focus for the DIY retailer. Nearly half of their online orders are picked up in store, whether the order came from do-it-yourself consumers or professional customers. “We’re very passionate about thinking customer-first and customer centricity,” said The Home Depot’s senior director of digital strategy and mobile applications, Matt Jones. The retailer wants to ensure that its customers have a blend of digital tools to engage with them while comparing and shopping for the goods that they need.

For the professional shopper, The Home Depot offers reserved parking, dedicated check out and loading of goods, volume discounts, and having the merchandise picked and ready for pick-up at the front of the store. The retailer is finding that the professional shopper has become more digitally savvy, many running their business entirely from an iPad of iPhone.

At the core of the digital strategy is The Home Depot app, which has features such as talk to text, images, account history, searching for product by scanning bar codes, shopping lists and augmented reality images. Added Jones, “We’re not trying to steer the customer in one direction or another. We’re trying to allow them to shop with us the way they choose to shop.”