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The news: Home Depot is raising prices on select products to offset tariff-driven cost increases. The move marks an about-face from May, when the retailer said its diversified supply chain would shield it from price hikes. At the time, Home Depot framed holding prices steady as a chance to gain share, but near-universal tariffs have made that increasingly untenable. Our take: Home Depot鈥檚 shift illustrates how tariffs are weighing on retailers across categories鈥攅ven those with diversified supply chains and strong domestic sourcing. Passing costs along to consumers could protect margins in the short term, but it risks dampening demand in an already fragile housing and home improvement market. If tariffs remain in place or expand further, retailers like Home Depot will be stuck between paying more for goods and serving customers reluctant to spend. That dynamic could accelerate SKU rationalization, push more retailers to lean on higher-margin private labels, and force difficult trade-offs between protecting margins and holding share. For Home Depot, its ability to retain relatively high-spending homeowners and pros gives it a cushion, but sustaining growth into 2025 will hinge on how successfully it balances pricing power with customer loyalty in a sluggish housing market. Adjusted earnings per share were $4.68, up from $4.67 a year earlier, but short of the $4.71 expected. Revenues were $45.28 billion, up 4.9% YoY, but below the $45.36 billion expected. However, Home Depot reaffirmed its full-year outlook, guiding to growth in total sales of 2.8% and comparable sales of roughly 1%.

Home Depot is sharpening its pitch to non-endemic advertisers with a new partnership with Yahoo DSP. Non-endemic advertising could be a lucrative opportunity for RMNs鈥攂ut it comes with its own set of challenges. Retailers have to clearly articulate what advantages they offer compared with the rest of the (very crowded) field, while measuring the impact of non-incremental ads is more difficult given the absence of closed-loop attribution. Companies should also follow Home Depot鈥檚 lead in being strategic about the types of non-endemic advertisers they allow onto their platform. While the temptation might be to cast as wide a net as possible, limiting ad buys to brands in complementary categories will maximize effectiveness and minimize the confusion for shoppers.

The news: Lowe鈥檚 is acquiring Foundation Building Materials (FBM) for approximately $8.8 billion. The North American distributor of interior building products generated roughly $6.5 billion in revenues in 2024 on a pro forma basis and operates more than 370 locations across the US and Canada, serving 40,000 Pro customers. Its business spans both new construction and repair/remodel applications. Our take: Lowe鈥檚 is playing the long game. By doubling down on Pro customers, the retailer is building a buffer against consumer caution and the frozen housing market. FBM鈥檚 scale positions Lowe鈥檚 to capture long-term share as construction rebounds, and the raised sales guidance signals confidence that its Pro-focused playbook is already delivering results. That stands in contrast to Home Depot, which recently fell short of both revenue and earnings expectations for the first time in a decade. While Home Depot has leaned into its Pro business as well, tariffs, elevated housing costs, and labor pressures are weighing on its results. Lowe鈥檚 acquisitions and investments could give it an edge in weathering near-term headwinds and winning share from contractors and builders who will be critical growth drivers over the next decade.

The contrast: At a time when many big box retailers are struggling, Tractor Supply Co. bucked the trend by delivering its strongest sales growth in two years鈥攗p 4.5% YoY to $4.44 billion鈥攄riven in part by solid momentum in big-ticket purchases. That performance stands in stark contrast to peers like Target and Home Depot, which have seen consumers pull back on discretionary and high-priced items. Our take: Tractor Supply鈥檚 formula is simple: high-quality experience + strong loyalty program + scale = growth. It delights shoppers, rewards them, and keeps expanding its footprint. That approach is helping it outrun the macro headwinds鈥攁nd its largely US-sourced assortment leaves it better insulated from tariff and supply shocks than many other merchants.

Home Depot made a bid for GMS, a building products and tool supplier for both consumers and contractors, per The Wall Street Journal. Our take: Home Depot sees a significant opportunity to consolidate the fragmented construction supply and tool market鈥攁nd it's moving at a moment when the US housing shortfall could drive sustained demand for new construction and renovation.

What retailers reaffirming 2025 guidance have in common: Dick鈥檚, Walmart, and Home Depot are cutting supplier costs, diversifying supply chains, and raising prices strategically amid ongoing uncertainty.

Despite tough conditions, Home Depot is keeping its head above water: The company beat revenue expectations, came close on earnings, and isn鈥檛 flinching on its full-year outlook鈥攐r its prices.

Memorial Day sales are live at Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot, and more: As consumers cut discretionary spending, retailers aim to boost sales through holiday-driven promotions.

The housing market may not improve this year: That鈥檚 forcing Lowe鈥檚 and Home Depot to push a lot of buttons to find paths to growth.

Home Depot expects sales to grow 2.8% this year: While the housing market is unlikely to thaw, the home improvement retailer sees signs that consumers will stop putting off projects.

Home Depot and Lowe鈥檚 doubled down on their professional contractor businesses, which offer more consistent demand than the cyclical DIY segment. Home Depot acquired SRS Distribution for $18.25 billion in June 2024, and Lowe鈥檚 completed its $1.32 billion acquisition of Artisan Design Group in April.

Other players like Walgreens, Kroger, Target, Instacart, CVS, and Home Depot impose their own rules, ranging from creative approval requirements to prohibitions on alcohol or pharmaceutical ads.

Home Depot. Kohl鈥檚. Lowe鈥檚. Macy鈥檚. Moody鈥檚. Nordstrom. Nordstrom Rack. Placer.ai. Ross. Target. TJX. Walmart. Wayfair.

ICE raids targeting Home Depot stores have scared off day laborers, many of whom lack legal status but serve as a critical source of labor for contractors and homeowners. Deportation fears caused in-store shopping among Hispanic consumers to fall more YoY than among non-Hispanics, with supermarkets seeing the biggest drop at over 11%, according to data from Kantar.

The furniture retailer maintained its full-year forecast, following in the footsteps of other housing-adjacent companies like Lowe鈥檚 and Home Depot, thanks to its push to establish itself as a luxury lifestyle brand and European expansion.

The situation: The US housing market is in rough shape, as homes aren鈥檛 selling, yet prices keep climbing. In June鈥攖ypically the spring peak鈥攅xisting-home sales fell 2.7% MoM, while the median price hit a record $435,300, per the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This spring marked the weakest selling season since 2012, with just 1.39 million contracts signed from April to June, per Redfin. That was down 9.7% from last year, which was also a weak sales season. Our take: With transactions stalled and prices still climbing, the housing market offers little short-term relief. For retailers tethered to homeownership and moving cycles, that鈥檚 a stubborn headwind鈥攅specially as tariff costs rise and consumers grow more selective about their discretionary spend. Retailers tied to housing can keep sales going by highlighting their affordable products as well as the long-term value of items like appliances and furniture.

Nearly half (47%) of CFOs worldwide said in March that they planned to pass along 71% or more of their share of tariff costs to consumers, a trend that鈥檚 playing out as retailers from Walmart to Home Depot to Williams-Sonoma raise prices, fueling broader economic pessimism. Consumer sentiment in August fell at least 10% YoY and from six and 12 months earlier, per the University of Michigan.

They also include US subsidiaries of specialty retailers, like The Home Depot and Best Buy. Platform features are expanding, according to a fall 2024 Mars United Commerce survey of RMNs. The company polled six players in the market for the second year running with queries related to targeting, measurement, and available ad inventory.

Despite those challenges, both Home Depot and Lowe鈥檚 raised their full-year outlooks to reflect better-than-expected Q3 results and some further hurricane-related demand in Q4. Home Depot expects total sales to increase by about 4%, up from its previous range of 2.5% to 3.5%.

The retailer ranked No. 5 among the most trusted US brands in this year鈥檚 Axios Harris Poll 100, ahead of retail media competitors like The Home Depot (No. 15), Amazon (No. 19), Lowe鈥檚 (No. 23), and Walmart (No. 81). Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of consumers are buying more private label products than they were a year ago, according to an Ipsos consumer survey from August 2024.

In Q1 2025, Amazon, Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, Macy鈥檚, and Staples all showed sponsored results in at least two-thirds of the queries users make on their sites. Even retailers with much more conservative coverage, such as Lowe鈥檚, significantly increased their coverage YoY. Competitive conquesting continues to creep toward table stakes.