Home & Garden Wilts Heading into 2Q24

Key Takeaways:

• Though broader macro trends remain tepid, mobile app performance of the US home improvement cohort was robust in CY 1Q24, with US downloads and MAUs rising 17% and 9% YoY, respectively, per Sensor Tower data. Download strength was led by a 38% YoY jump at Lowe’s, while a 21% YoY boost in Ace Hardware MAUs drove overall MAU growth

• Despite 1Q24 gains in downloads and MAUs, engagement has faltered and is more in line with macro trends. Even with warmer weather and sales events (e.g. Home Depot’s Spring Black Friday and Lowe’s SpringFest), MTD Apr’24 engagement metrics remain weak

  • For the first two weeks of Apr’24, Home Depot’s session count and time spent fell 11% and 17% YoY, respectively, while Lowe’s session count and time spent dropped 8% and 16% YoY, respectively, over the same period

  • Weaker engagement could be due to their mobile app customers skewing to the wholesale and fast foodies personas, suggesting a consumer searching for value. Yet both Lowe’s and Home Depot only used the words “save” and “low prices ” in 4% and 2% of their ads, respectively, in 1Q24

• The home and garden category made up just 4% of total US digital ad spend in 1Q24 and the largest advertisers were Home Depot (5%), Amazon (4.9%), Walmart (3.4%), Wayfair (3.3%) and Lowe’s (3%), with Amazon, Walmart and Wayfair skewing their spend to the home goods & furniture sub-category

• Shopping is the top category across both company’s retail media networks though the percentage is much higher for Home Depot, as it accounted for 50% of the brand’s impressions in 2H23 vs. 30% of impressions for Lowe’s

  • Following shopping, tools & equipment was the second-highest category by impressions for both retailers in 2H23, accounting for 23% and 10% of Lowe’s and Home Depot’s impressions served, respectively

For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.