Home Depot launches express delivery fleet in ‘frozen’ housing market

Despite a slow housing market curbing demand for building supplies, The Home Depot is launching a rapid delivery service for professional and DIY customers. The Express Delivery fleet employs Home Depot stores as fulfillment hubs to deliver thousands of SKUs across categories within three hours for a flat fee.

“Customers expect products to be available when and where they need them, and Express Delivery helps us meet that expectation with a fast, reliable solution,” Jordan Broggi, EVP of interconnected retail, said in a press release.

• The service complements Home Depot’s growing fulfillment network, which already delivers 65% of in-stock products same-day or next-day and 55% of big and bulky products within two days, according to the company.
• Big and bulky orders in particular have become a priority for the big box chain, as it builds out its supply chain to address the inherent difficulties of moving large items quickly.

Home Depot previously offered rapid delivery through third parties such as Instacart and Doordash, but its new service brings the offering in-house. The move is in line with the home improvement’s broader push to control its own supply chain.

This week, Broggi told shareholders during the company’s Q2 earnings call that the majority of deliveries are currently arriving in less than an hour, and Home Depot plans to bring that time down even more in the months ahead.

All of these investments are happening against a difficult backdrop for the home improvement chain. The company faces both “unplanned cost pressure” and “frozen housing conditions,” CFO Richard McPhail said on the call.

“With all of that, we are focused on controlling what we can control,” he added.