The Home Depot and Google Cloud expand agentic AI for real customer impact - from aisle to inbox
At NRF 2026, The Home Depot and Google Cloud announced a deeper partnership to bring agentic AI into everyday customer touchpoints. The goal is straightforward: real-time, expert help for homeowners and pros across web, app, chat, SMS, voice, and inside the store. The stack runs on Gemini models and Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience (CX), creating an "AI-first" flow that follows the customer from living room to jobsite to aisle.
These experiences will also extend beyond The Home Depot's owned channels into AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app in the months ahead.
"The Home Depot has always been about providing excellent customer service," said Jordan Broggi, EVP Customer Experience and President - Online, The Home Depot. "By building on Google Cloud's AI solutions, we're putting 'Orange Apron' expertise in the pocket of every customer and creating an AI experience that is personalized, contextual, and available wherever the customer is-whether that's the home, the jobsite, or in the aisles of our stores."
"We are entering a new chapter of retail where technology doesn't just suggest products-it solves problems," said Jose Gomes, Vice President, Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods at Google Cloud. "The Home Depot is leading in the agentic commerce era, and using AI to deliver real-world value. By integrating Google Cloud's AI, The Home Depot is ensuring that customer interactions-whether from a pro on a jobsite or a shopper in an aisle-are powered by the most sophisticated intelligence available today."
What's new (and why support leaders should care)
- Magic Apron goes conversational and contextual: Customers describe a project in plain language and get expert guidance, how-tos, and personalized recommendations. Multimodal features are coming soon (image upload and visualization) to guide through complex jobs.
- In-store precision: Magic Apron now blends local inventory, product locations, and wayfinding. It can direct a customer to the exact bay and suggest add-on materials, with aisle-level accuracy.
- Pro materials lists: Pros can voice or text a job (or upload what they already have). The agent returns a grouped materials list, fills in missed essentials, and speeds up estimating and quoting.
- Conversational support on SMS, chat, and voice: Intent-first automation replaces rigid menus. The system resolves issues in real time and is already live across channels. Next-gen voice agents are testing in select stores.
- Smarter last mile: Route intelligence uses Gemini and Google Maps data to foresee delivery risks (weather, road quality, tight turns, gated entries) and recommend the right equipment and crew size.
- Associate enablement with Gemini Enterprise: Thousands of Store Support Center associates are using specialized agents to draft, audit, predict bottlenecks, and automate workflows in seconds.
Why this matters for customer support
- Higher first-contact resolution: Better guidance up front means fewer transfers, fewer returns, and fewer repeat contacts.
- True omnichannel continuity: Context follows the customer-from project planning to aisle pick-up to delivery-reducing friction and re-explaining.
- Fewer "where is it?" questions: Aisle/bay precision and real-time availability cut store and contact center calls.
- Pro time savings: Faster, more complete quotes reduce back-and-forth with reps, and improve satisfaction among high-value accounts.
- Delivery issues pre-empted: Route intelligence lowers failed deliveries, which means fewer escalations and refunds.
- Better metrics: Expect movement in AHT, FCR, CSAT, and effort scores-focus on resolution rate and quality, not just deflection.
How the new Magic Apron experience works in the store
Customers can ask project questions in natural language and get both expert recommendations and precise directions to the product. Ask "What grout works best with glass tiles?" and it suggests unsanded or epoxy grout, shows aisle and bay, and prompts for related materials. This blends expertise, inventory, and wayfinding in one flow.
It's one of the first localized agents at retail scale. It's testing now in select stores, with a nationwide rollout planned in the coming months.
Pro workflows: faster estimates, fewer misses
Pros can speak or type the job scope-or upload an existing list. The system builds a complete materials list, groups items logically, and flags common gaps that stall jobs. Launched in beta in November 2025 and scaling nationally this month, it helps pros send accurate quotes in a fraction of the time and move to the next job faster.
Precision at the pavement: fewer failed deliveries
The Home Depot layered customer preferences and operating hours with weather, road conditions, and site constraints read from Maps. The platform interprets obstacles like narrow streets, gates, or posts that could block access. Drivers get alerts where big trucks may struggle, plus guidance on equipment and crew sizing to keep deliveries on time and complete.
Conversational service that actually resolves
The new AI agents handle SMS, chat, and phone with natural language, recognizing intent and resolving in real time. This isn't a menu tree-it adapts to the customer's goal and closes the loop. Early results show better engagement and resolution at scale, with store voice agents in test to free associates for complex cases.
Associate augmentation with Gemini Enterprise
At the Store Support Center, teams use specialized agents to automate end-to-end tasks-drafting marketing copy, auditing digital designs, and predicting project bottlenecks. Routine work shrinks; focus shifts to creative problem solving and long-term strategy.
Implementation notes for CX and support leaders
- Map top intents by channel and ensure the agent can complete the task end-to-end, not just reply.
- Design clean handoffs: AI to human and human back to AI with context preserved.
- Instrument everything: track intent resolution, containment with satisfaction, AHT, CSAT, CES, and recontact rate.
- Tune knowledge for action: step-by-step procedures, policies, inventory rules, and eligibility logic.
- Operationalize image intake: let customers upload photos for faster triage and better recommendations.
- Build a feedback loop: agent explanations + outcomes feed content updates weekly.
- Start with pros and delivery: they drive outsized cost and loyalty impact.
- Train associates to partner with AI: when to escalate, how to verify, and how to correct the agent with minimal friction.
What to watch next
The Home Depot plans to bring these experiences into AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app. That means customers may start projects on Google and finish them inside Home Depot channels without losing context. Identity, consent, and preference management will be key to make this seamless and trustworthy.
Helpful resources
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About The Home Depot
The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025, the company operated a total of 2,356 retail stores and over 1,200 SRS locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company employs over 470,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.
About Google
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
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