Home Depot rolls out expanded “Magic Apron” in-store AI guidance nationwide

Home Depot said it is expanding its Magic Apron in-store capabilities nationwide, extending the reach of an AI-powered shopping assistant designed to help customers find products and guidance while they are in the store.

Magic Apron is part of Home Depot’s effort to combine store operations with digital assistance, using AI to support shopping decisions in real time. In the update, the company framed the rollout as a way to deliver both personalized help and localized in-store guidance, rather than general recommendations.

Home Depot also said Magic Apron is already being used at scale, adding that the assistant has been “fielding millions of” customer interactions. The company did not provide, in the announcement framing available here, a breakdown of how those interactions translate into measurable outcomes such as conversion, average ticket size, or reduced time spent finding items.

The company’s messaging emphasized that the expanded capabilities are designed for the in-store environment, where guidance needs to be timely and specific to the context of the store and the customer’s project. That includes steering shoppers toward relevant products and helping them navigate the physical inventory and layout.

In practical terms, the pitch is about taking steps toward a more guided shopping experience in a category where customers often come with partial information. Home improvement projects typically involve materials selection, compatibility considerations, and steps that vary by surface, tool choice, and the customer’s stated goal, all of which can be difficult to resolve without in-person support.

Home Depot’s expansion follows a broader retail pattern in which large chains deploy AI assistants and in-store digital experiences to reduce friction and labor burden while improving the usefulness of recommendations. For home improvement retailers, the challenge is making recommendations accurate enough for the project, while keeping them relevant to the specific store assortment and customer intent.

Still, the details disclosed here are limited. The announcement framing does not specify what new “in-store capabilities” are being added, how Magic Apron detects or adapts to localized store conditions, or what data inputs it uses. It also does not outline privacy safeguards or the extent of human oversight, which are common questions when AI systems are used in customer-facing workflows.

For shoppers, the next question is whether Magic Apron’s expanded guidance is materially better at resolving real project needs, such as matching the right materials to an outcome, than prior in-store tools. For Home Depot, investors will likely watch for indicates that the expanded AI assistance supports stronger engagement and shopping productivity, even though the company has not, in the available disclosure, tied the rollout to specific financial targets or performance metrics.