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Lowe’s and Home Depot released Q3 2025 financials this week, both reporting modest net sales growth and progress on several company initiatives. Both companies also hosted earnings calls where execs shared insights into how each is improving various operational areas.
During the Q3 2025 earnings call, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison praised the company’s use of AI through the Lowe’s virtual assistants Mylow and Mylow Companion, citing higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction scores.
“Within our technology team, engineers are using AI tools for development and code review, leading to double-digit productivity gains and accelerating our speed to market,” Ellison says. “In fact, Lowe’s has just been recognized by OpenAI with their 100 billion Token Milestone Award as a reflection of the depth and breadth of AI adoption throughout the organization. Achieving this milestone places Lowe’s in an elite tier of companies that are not just experimenting with AI but operating at a true enterprise scale.”
William Boltz, Lowe’s EVP of merchandising, says the company has made significant progress on its SKU rationalization initiative designed to improve inventory productivity.
“By the end of 2025, we’re set to achieve our multiyear goal of reducing our in-store SKU count by 15%,” Boltz says. “As we head into the holiday season, we’re delivering new exciting products, both in-store and online through our Black Friday Buildup event. We’re giving customers an early start on their holiday shopping with great deals, including several that are already available now.”
Joseph McFarland, Lowe’s executive vice president of stores, reported on the company’s focus on the pro, sharing that enrollments in the My Lowe’s Pro Rewards program continue to grow and the core small-to-medium pro customers have been utilizing the loyalty platform, which allows them to start earning rewards immediately and achieve higher rewards with lower levels of spending.
“We’re also pleased to see pros taking advantage of our enhanced digital capabilities, as they shift to more shopping online,” McFarland. “And looking ahead, we’re encouraged that in our recent pro survey overall sentiment improved for small-to-medium pros as they remain confident in their job prospects and report stable backlogs.”
McFarland also announced the company’s new initiative to support veterans, the launch of Freedom Hill, a community providing mortgage-free housing and support services for up to 15 households of injured veterans and first responders
“As a Marine who served in combat, I’m particularly proud to share that in partnership with Building Homes for Heroes, and our hometown of Mooresville, North Carolina, we’ve just broken ground on ‘Freedom Hill,’” he says. “As the executive sponsor of Lowe’s philanthropic support of our military communities, it will be an honor for me to see lives changed through this initiative.”
Executives at Home Depot also offered additional insight into the company’s performance and use of AI technology.
Several of Home Depot’s initiatives, including new tools for professionals launched earlier this year, were noted, including the Project Planning tool and Blueprint Takeoffs.
“Adding this advanced technology to our ecosystem of capabilities to better serve the pro working on complex projects will further enable us to be the one-stop shop for all project needs, from initial planning to material delivery, saving our pros time and money,” says Ann-Marie Campbell, senior executive vice president of Home Depot.
Campbell says the company rolled out freight flow application to all stores last year, improving freight processes and driving efficiency in operations.
“This initiative has significantly improved our cartons per hour metric, resulting in greater efficiency in our onload and pack out process,” Campbell says. “We also continue to focus on on-shelf availability and through computer vision and Sidekick, we have reached record in-stock and on-shelf availability levels. Lastly, our faster fulfillment efforts, leveraging both our stores and distribution centers that you’ve heard about over the last few quarters, have driven an over 400 basis point increase in our customer satisfaction scores.”
William Bastek, The Home Depot, EVP of merchandising, shared that nine of 16 merchandising departments posted positive comps, including kitchen, bath, outdoor garden, storage, electrical, plumbing, millwork, hardware and appliances.
“Our merchandising organization remains focused on being our customers’ advocate for value. This means continuing to provide a broad assortment of best-in-class products that are in stock and available for our customers,” Bastek says. “It is the power of our vendor relationships, coupled with our best-in-class merchant organization, that allows us to offer our customers the best brands with the most innovation to solve pain points, increase functionality and enhance performance at the best value in the market.”
