Lowe’s and Home Depot spend so much time watching each other. Their prices are nearly identical, as would make sense in a highly competitive commoditized industry. So the differences in the Lowe’s and Home Depot product is often the experience.

I actually prefer Lowe’s. I like the personal, diy’er feel. Home Depot feels more geared towards professional contractors.

With everything going on in the world, my wife and I are spending more time in our backyard and sprucing things up. I wanted to get some projects into a wish list so I can better plan for them both in terms of the project scope and the cost. This is where I found a subtle but significant difference between Lowe’s and Home Depot.

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Take a look at those two wish lists? One is not like the other. While I set out to create my wish lists on Lowe’s and purchase everything from them, they had one minor, tiny, missing detail that forced me to go to Home Depot. Can you guess what it is?

Quantity! I can’t modify the number of items in the Lowe’s list. I guess this makes sense if I’m buying refrigerators but when I’m planning on buying lumber this is a poor experience and an oversight on the Lowe’s side.

Home Depot also tallies up the prices which wasn’t a deal-breaker for me but it’s nice to know how much a project is going to cost and plan ahead.

Just remember that those tiny details that show you really care and took the time to think about the user experience can make or break you.