Home Depot Targets $450 Billion Pro Market With Digital and Distribution Power

Do-it-yourself (DIY) homeowners may think they’re the prime Home Depot customers, but the company’s growth story is being built around a different vertical: the professional builder.

Home Depot told investors during a Tuesday (Aug. 19) second-quarter 2025 earnings call that while weekend warriors are still loading up their pickup trucks and SUVs with lumber, paint and mulch, it’s contractors, remodelers and other pro customers who make the key base that will shape its market positioning for the next decade.

While Lowe’s, Menards and regional distributors play in the pro space, none has Home Depot’s scale, balance sheet or ability to integrate physical and digital channels, the retailer’s leadership said during the call.

The pro builder customer base spends more per project, demands greater supply reliability and is less vulnerable to short-term consumer sentiment. In Q2, for example, Home Depot’s average ticket rose 1.2% to $90, even as transactions slipped. Pro customers placing bulk orders for roofing shingles, concrete or landscaping stone are a helpful driver of that metric.

For context, Home Depot estimated that the addressable pro market is worth more than $450 billion annually in the United States. Penetrating even a fraction of that spend can sustain growth in the face of ongoing macro uncertainty.

Inflationary pressures, interest rate volatility and geopolitical instability are putting a spotlight on retailer earnings as investors keep an eye on how businesses are navigating tariffs, supply chain management and pricing strategies.

Read also: Home Depot Strengthens Pro Market With Digital and In-Store Investments

The centerpiece of Home Depot’s B2B construction pro strategy is its $18.3 billion acquisition of SRS Distribution, closed in June 2024. The deal gave Home Depot a powerful footprint in roofing, landscaping and specialty building supplies, categories historically outside its big-box aisles.

By layering SRS onto its interconnected retail model, Home Depot gains three competitive advantages.

The first is breadth and depth. Stores remain the customer-facing hubs, but SRS branches add pro-grade depth in specialized categories. The second is faster fulfillment. A contractor can now place an order online and have it staged at a store or delivered directly from a distribution branch to a job site, reducing costly downtime. The third benefit is relationship building. Home Depot branches are staffed by industry veterans who know contractors personally, building trust in ways that a transactional retail aisle cannot.

In this way, Home Depot is positioning itself not just as a retailer, but as a distribution partner, edging into territory historically dominated by specialty wholesalers.

Technology is the connective tissue in this B2B expansion. In Q2, about half of digital orders were fulfilled via stores, but the integration of SRS expands that ecosystem to include dedicated pro fulfillment centers.

See also: Retail Suppliers ‘Completely Under the Gun’ Amid Tariff Pressure

Key B2B initiatives from Home Depot include Pro-specific digital platforms for managing bulk orders, repeat purchases and credit lines; job site delivery scheduling, powered by artificial intelligence routing, to ensure materials arrive in sequence with project timelines; and dynamic inventory forecasting that balances retail replenishment with contractor demand surges.

For contractors, the promise is less time managing logistics and more time building. For Home Depot, it means a higher share of wallet and stronger customer lock-in.

If the first phase of Home Depot’s B2B play is distribution, the second may be services. Contractors increasingly demand more than products; they want financing, credit, training and workforce development support.

Home Depot already offers Pro Xtra, a loyalty program with volume discounts and job site management tools. Expanding that ecosystem could mean partnerships with software firms, embedded FinTech for project financing, or workforce training initiatives tied to its supply chain.

This service layer could deepen contractor relationships in ways that product alone cannot.

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