The Home Depot to Advance Customer Experience Using Rilla's AI-Powered Coaching

Rhea-AI Summary

The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) will adopt Rilla's AI-powered real-time coaching platform to support service and sales professionals nationwide, announced Jan 13, 2026. The tools analyze communication and service-delivery patterns to surface coaching insights, aiming to standardize customer experience and scale frontline development across the retailer's network.

The partnership highlights both firms' focus on operational consistency and technology-driven performance for millions of customers.

News Market Reaction

-1.00%

1 alert

-1.00% News Effect

On the day this news was published, HD declined 1.00%, reflecting a mild negative market reaction.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Key Figures

Retail stores: 2,353 stores Branches: Over 800 branches Employees: Over 470,000 associates

3 metrics

Retail stores 2,353 stores Total retail stores at end of second quarter

Branches Over 800 branches Branches across U.S., Canada and Mexico

Employees Over 470,000 associates Total associates employed by The Home Depot

Market Reality Check

Price: $384.64 Vol: Volume 4,700,928 vs 20-da...

normal vol

$384.64 Last Close

Volume Volume 4,700,928 vs 20-day avg 4,442,870 (relative volume 1.06x). normal

Technical Price $379.74 trading above 200-day MA of $373.22, below 52-week high $426.75.

Peers on Argus

HD up 1.28% while peers show mixed moves: LOW (+0.41%), BABA (+0.9%), FND (+2.31...

HD up 1.28% while peers show mixed moves: LOW (+0.41%), BABA (+0.9%), FND (+2.31%), AMZN (-1.59%), TM (-0.43%). Moves appear stock-specific rather than a coordinated sector rotation.

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Dec 10 (Positive)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Dec 10	Creator portal launch	Positive	+1.7%	Launched creator portal to drive new content-led revenue opportunities.
Dec 09	Investor day guidance	Neutral	-1.3%	Reaffirmed FY2025 guidance and outlined preliminary FY2026 outlook.
Dec 02	Instacart partnership	Positive	-0.9%	Announced Canadian same-day delivery partnership with Instacart.
Nov 25	Conference announcement	Neutral	+4.3%	Scheduled 2025 Investor and Analyst Conference with updated footprint data.
Nov 20	Dividend declaration	Positive	+3.3%	Declared $2.30 quarterly dividend, extending long-running dividend track record.

Pattern Detected

Recent news, especially partnerships and capital return announcements, has more often aligned with positive or stable price reactions, with only one notable divergence on a delivery partnership update.

Recent Company History

Over the last few months, The Home Depot has highlighted several strategic initiatives. A new Creator portal on Dec 10, 2025 and a quarterly dividend of $2.30 per share on Nov 20, 2025 both saw positive price reactions. Strategic guidance at the Dec 9, 2025 Investor Conference led to a modest decline, while a Canadian Instacart partnership on Dec 2, 2025 also coincided with a small pullback. Today’s AI-focused coaching partnership continues the theme of digital and service innovation.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement highlights The Home Depot’s continued push into AI-driven tools, now extending fro...

Analysis

This announcement highlights The Home Depot’s continued push into AI-driven tools, now extending from customer and Pro-facing solutions into internal coaching for frontline teams. It fits within a broader pattern of digital and partnership initiatives aimed at improving service quality and execution. In assessing its impact, investors may track adoption across the company’s 2,353 stores and over 470,000 associates, as well as how this complements earlier AI efforts like project-planning and customer-support tools.

Key Terms

ai-powered, artificial intelligence

2 terms

ai-powered technical

"Rilla, the leading AI-powered platform for field team performance..."

"AI-powered" describes technology that uses artificial intelligence to perform tasks, make decisions, or analyze information automatically. It’s similar to having a highly skilled assistant that can learn from data, recognize patterns, and improve over time, helping to make processes faster and more accurate. For investors, this means better insights and more efficient operations, potentially leading to smarter investment choices.

artificial intelligence technical

"These artificial intelligence tools will enable The Home Depot's service..."

Artificial intelligence is the ability of computers and machines to perform tasks that typically require human thinking, such as understanding language, recognizing patterns, or making decisions. For investors, it matters because AI can enhance efficiency, uncover new insights, and enable smarter strategies, potentially impacting the value and performance of companies that develop or utilize this technology.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Rilla, the leading AI-powered platform for field team performance, today announced it will bring its real-time coaching tools to The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer. These artificial intelligence tools will enable The Home Depot's service and sales professionals across the country to coach and develop their teams more effectively by identifying patterns in communication and service delivery. The collaboration reflects both companies' shared commitment to delivering consistent, exceptional service to customers—while embracing cutting-edge technology to support frontline teams.

"The Home Depot is a company known for its service excellence and operational scale," said Sebastian Jimenez, CEO of Rilla. "We're thrilled to partner with them to help equip their teams with tools that enhance performance and support the high standard of care they deliver to millions of customers."

Rilla's platform has seen rapid adoption among leading brands in home services, retail, and manufacturing—reflecting growing demand for AI solutions that improve frontline execution and operational excellence. Rather than relying on manual observation or delayed feedback, Rilla's AI platform helps organizations understand how service is delivered across teams—surfacing insights that allow leaders to reinforce best practices, scale coaching, and improve team performance.

The partnership underscores The Home Depot's focus on innovation and delivering high-quality service at scale—ensuring that no matter where or how customers interact with their teams, they receive the same level of professionalism, attentiveness, and expertise.

To learn more, visit [www.rilla.com].

About Rilla
Rilla is the leading AI platform for field teams. Built to support sales and service professionals, Rilla helps organizations scale coaching and performance development by analyzing communication trends and surfacing actionable insights—enabling better, more consistent execution in the field.

About The Home Depot
The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of the second quarter, the company operated a total of 2,353 retail stores and over 800 branches 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.

CONTACT: hello@rilla.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-home-depot-to-advance-customer-experience-using-rillas-ai-powered-coaching-302660394.html

SOURCE Rilla

FAQ

What did The Home Depot and Rilla announce on January 13, 2026 regarding HD?

They announced a partnership to deploy Rilla's AI real-time coaching tools for The Home Depot's service and sales teams nationwide.

How will Rilla's AI tools affect The Home Depot (HD) frontline teams?

Rilla's platform will analyze communication and service patterns to surface coaching insights that aim to improve consistency and team performance.

Does the announcement state where The Home Depot (HD) will roll out Rilla's platform?

The announcement says the tools will be used across the company's service and sales professionals nationwide; no specific store-by-store rollout details were provided.

Will Rilla's AI deployment change customer experience at The Home Depot (HD)?

The companies say the tools are intended to help deliver more consistent, exceptional service to customers by scaling coaching and reinforcing best practices.

Where can investors or customers learn more about the Home Depot (HD) and Rilla partnership?

The release points to Rilla's website for more information and summarizes the collaboration's goal of improving frontline coaching and customer service.