Home Depot Puts Magic Apron in All U.S. Stores, Adding Project Help to Store Maps

Home Depot has rolled out its Magic Apron AI shopping assistant to all U.S. stores. Shoppers can use it from the mobile app or an in-store QR code to find products, check availability and ask questions about projects and product fit.

The interface accepts text, voice-to-text and photo uploads, and it can interact in a shopper’s preferred language. That lets a customer begin with an image of an unfamiliar item, rather than a product name or specification. Home Depot gives the example of uploading a grass-seed bag to ask which fertilizer suits a local climate; it also cites drywall-repair supply lists as a use case.

A broader job than finding the aisle

Magic Apron builds on Store Mode, Home Depot’s 2022 feature for barcode scanning, store navigation and related shopping information. The new assistant keeps the location-aware functions, including aisle-and-bay directions and inventory checks, but adds product information, recommendations and guidance for a job. It can also review product compatibility, shifting the app from a lookup tool toward help with a purchase decision.

A nationwide assistant, not a replacement for staff

Home Depot says Magic Apron handles millions of shopper questions each month. Jordan Broggi, the company’s executive vice president of interconnected retail, said associates remain central to the in-store experience, positioning the assistant as an additional route to guidance rather than the retailer’s only source of help.

The rollout covers more than 2,000 U.S. stores. Home Depot says pilot participants found products faster, felt more confident about purchases and better understood compatibility. Those are participant perceptions reported by the company, not independently measured shopping outcomes.