Home Depot shoppers grow more price sensitive as consumer sentiment falls

Customers may still come through the doors ready to spend, but they are carrying a much tighter budget mindset. McKinsey said on May 28 that U.S. consumer sentiment had fallen to a two-year low, with more households worried about costs heading into summer and planning to pull back on discretionary spending.

For Home Depot associates, that mood shift usually shows up in the same questions again and again. Shoppers are more likely to ask which option is cheaper, whether a smaller project scope will still work, and whether a repair can buy time before a full replacement. The conversation tilts toward trade-down choices, bundled purchases, and lower-cost alternatives when inflation, uneven hiring and geopolitical tension are all weighing on spending plans.

Home Depot said its core consumer remained "engaged" even as caution grew around larger projects. On May 19, the company reported first-quarter fiscal 2026 sales of $41.8 billion, up 4.8% from a year earlier, with comparable sales rising 0.6% overall and 0.4% in the U.S. CNBC reported that some shoppers pulled back on bigger projects even as the retailer beat Wall Street expectations and reaffirmed its full-year guidance.

That split matters on the floor because not every customer is walking in with the same job in mind. Some still need the repair item that cannot wait, while others are putting off the full remodel and asking how to stretch the project with fewer materials or a cheaper finish. In that kind of environment, associates who can compare products quickly, explain value differences clearly and steer customers toward the right-size purchase are likely to win more baskets.

Home Depot’s earnings materials also pointed to a fourth straight quarter of double-digit year-over-year online comparable sales growth and the acquisition of Mingledorff’s, signs that the company is still investing in channels and categories that can capture cautious spenders. The University of Michigan’s final May consumer sentiment reading fell to 44.8, while The Conference Board’s confidence index slipped to 93.1. Taken together, the numbers point to the same floor-level reality: consumers are still spending, but they want a better reason to say yes.