Amazon popularized the idea of paid membership for unlimited two-day delivery through Prime.
That created a new delivery table stakes where consumers expected two-day delivery, and aside from paying for Amazon Prime, they generally have not been willing to pay for that privilege.
In recent years, Amazon has offered one-day and even same-day delivery on many items. That has changed consumer expectations even further.
“Consumers have come to expect rapid delivery, often for free,” according to a 2025 Harvard Kennedy School study.
FedEx, which recently launched a same-day delivery service, explained what it’s seeing from customers.
“Consumers don’t just expect ‘as fast as possible’ delivery for every order — they increasingly want choices. Some purchases need to arrive immediately, others must come within a precise time window, and sometimes shoppers want the most economical option and are willing to wait,” the company shared in a press release.
Now, Home Depot has joined the faster delivery fray with two key moves to make that happen.
Home Depot wants to increase its distribution center network
Home Depot has filed to build a distribution center outside of New York, according to March 25 meeting notes from the Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency.
“The potential New York location is part of a wider Home Depot supply chain investment strategy, as the retailer looks to establish ‘state-of-the-art distribution facilities throughout the U.S.’ to improve efficiencies, according to Kevin Reddick, Home Depot’s senior director of tax counsel,” RetailDive reported.
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Home Depot has quietly been growing its network of distribution centers, according to Supply Chain Dive.
“Over the past several years, the home improvement retailer has built an expansive network of distribution centers to accelerate its delivery speeds while freeing up space in stores. Home Depot utilized 104.7 million square feet in distribution facilities, fulfillment centers, and warehouses at the end of fiscal year 2025, up from 55 million in fiscal year 2017,” the website reported.
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Home Depot adds delivery tools
In addition to expanding its distribution center network, Home Depot has given its truck drivers a new tool to help them meet customers’ needs.
“One of the other capabilities that we’ve recently rolled out that allows our drivers to stay connected with our customers’ needs is our delivery handheld device. This is a tool that we use to track the status of all of our deliveries and the progress that we’re making, as well as all of the other requests that we get from our customers to make sure that we’re fulfilling the exact needs of the service that they require on their particular job sites,” Executive Vice President of Supply Chain & Product Development John Deaton shared during the chain’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
John Broggi, Home Depot’s online president, explained how the device gives added transparency.
“That also enables our live tracking on big and bulky, which customers have come to expect on small items, but to be able to track live of bulky delivery, whether that’s a flatbed rolling down with lumber to a job site or an appliance showing up at the home, that’s been a really big win for our customers,” he said.
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American shoppers want fast delivery
“Three in 4 U.S. online shoppers consider fast delivery to be important,” according to a YouGov survey conducted for Emarketer. “Just 8% believe it to be unimportant — an indication of how Amazon’s relentless drive to improve delivery speeds has upended consumer expectations.”
And while Home Depot only overlaps with Amazon on a small percentage of its merchandise, the home-improvement chain has worked to keep up with its frequent rival.
JPMorgan’s Christopher Horvers believes that Home Depot’s investments in supply chain and delivery have helped it build an edge over direct rival Lowe’s.
“Home Depot is focusing on technology to enhance its operational efficiency,” Horvers wrote, as Benzinga reported. “HD continues to lead in terms of adopting technology to drive in-stocks and inventory productivity.”
The gap between the two chains has been widening, according to the analyst.
“Lowe’s looks like Wile E. Coyote and Home Depot looks like the Road Runner once again,” Horvers told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
Home Depot CEO Edward Decker said the company’s investments have paid off with one group of customers.
“We’re also encouraged by the traction we see with the Pro. Pros who are utilizing our Pro ecosystem of capabilities are spending more with us, and we remain focused on enhancing our capabilities from sales support to project management to delivery, all to better support Pros throughout the life of their projects,” he said during the Q4 earnings call.
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