After years of stability, the two largest home improvement retailers in the U.S. this month announced a flurry of major marketing moves. In early September, Lowe’s said it was parting ways with its chief brand and marketing officer Marisa Thalberg. And instead of filling the CMO role, which had reported to CEO Marvin Ellison, marketing was moved beneath the merchandising department. The Home Depot also announced a new CMO, former Delta executive Molly Battin. Her appointment follows the seven-year tenure of Adolfo Villagomez, who left the company in the spring.

The turnover comes at a time when retail experts are closely watching the home improvement sector for signs of consumer pullback following pandemic-induced gains. As the economy continues to soften and prices on everyday items rise, consumers could begin foregoing items for the home, such as new furniture, redesign projects and renovations and even décor items. This is expected to place more pressure on the marketing departments of retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wayfair, which will be forced to serve up compelling value propositions for customers. By linking marketing more closely with merchandising, Lowe’s could be shifting away from brand building and connecting marketing more closely with sales, experts said. In addition, messaging may move to more value-driven language and deals as marketers focus more on profit.

“When you’re looking for money, it’s a lot easier to cut those things, like brand building or experiments where you’re not seeing the more immediate ROI,” said Steve Dennis, president and founder of retail consultancy Sageberry Consulting.

Consumer spending down

Already, there are market research indicators of a decline. A report this month from Numerator found that consumer visits to home improvement stores have declined 7.4% year-to-date compared to the year-earlier period. In addition, consumer spending in the category has also declined 3.7% over the same time period, Numerator found.

“With recent retail sales, we’re still seeing strong performance in the home improvement sector, but this is the first time we saw furniture and home décor start to taper a bit and that’s a potential leading indicator that consumers are reconsidering some of these big purchases they’re making for their homes,” said Katie Thomas, lead at the Kearney Consumer Institute, the think tank at consulting firm Kearney. “You can’t really back off a home improvement project overnight, but as we see consumers really evaluate their total wallet, some of those projects might start to get deprioritized.”

Some brands have reported less than rosy results. Wayfair last month announced a 14.9% decline in net sales to $3.3 billion compared with the year-earlier period. For its most recent quarter, Lowe’s reported a same-store sales decline of 0.3% over last year; net sales, at $27.5 billion, were essentially flat with the $27.6 billion from the year-earlier period.

Yet Home Depot showed growth—it said second-quarter sales increased 6.5% to $43.8 billion from the second quarter of 2021; same-store sales grew 5.8%.

Lowe’s decision to shake up its marketing structure follows two years of marketing innovation under Thalberg that found the 101-year-old brand showing up in a host of unexpected places. Lowe’s hosted a New York Fashion Week activation two years ago and has run marketing events around Halloween and Valentine’s Day. The Mooresville, North Carolina-based chain, which declined to comment for this story, more recently teamed up with Petco for shop-in-shops.

But the appetite for such experimentation might be waning as Lowe's seeks to keep revenue growing in tougher economic times.

Thomas predicts a back-to-basics approach in marketing messaging as consumers watch their wallets. For back-to-school apparel, for example, many brands pushed core basic items at a low price. This means fewer 12-foot Halloween skeletons and more must-have everyday items like drills and nails.

“You’re going to see Lowe’s and Home Depot communicate more, ‘Hey, you can still do that project, here’s these core items you need,’” said Thomas. “The priority will go back to true home improvement.”

Yet marketers need to be careful they aren’t teaching consumers to simply search out low prices and be retailer-agnostic.

“If you get into this pattern of teaching the customer to be indifferent between brands and to go where the best deal is, that is a poor strategic way to run your business,” said Dennis. “It’s easy to do the promotional stuff and that’s maybe okay for the short-term, but it’s harder to make your brand remarkable and really create loyalty.”

One strategy might be doubly effective at brand building and attracting price-conscious consumers—resale and rental programs. They are a big area of focus for shoppers, according to Lee Peterson, executive VP of thought leadership at branding and consulting firm WD Partners. Both Home Depot and Lowe’s have tool rental programs that they are expanding. WD recently surveyed consumers about the resale trend and found that 71% of respondents shop for used merchandise—including apparel, furniture and home items—at least once a month.  Peterson expects the trend to grow even more as more rental options roll out and consumers rethink big-ticket purchases for their homes.

“Consumers are saying, ‘You’ve got used, I’m coming more often,’” he said.