US Major Appliance Market Share: Q1 2026 Trends & Rankings

According to OpenBrand’s Q1 2026 market data, retail leadership held steady in Q1, with Lowe’s and Home Depot continuing to capture more than three-quarters of appliance volume.

• Largest unit share gain: Lowe’s (+0.5 pts)
• Largest dollar share gain: Home Depot (+0.6 pts)
• Largest unit share decline: Walmart (-0.5 pts)
• Largest dollar share decline: Walmart (-0.5 pts)

Lowe’s posted the strongest unit performance in Q1, adding +0.5 pts to reach 42.4% and extending its lead over Home Depot to 7.4 pts. Its dollar share held essentially flat at 38.6%, indicating volume growth at a steady average ticket rather than a premium-driven lift.

Home Depot moved the opposite direction, giving back -0.2 pts in units while gaining +0.6 pts in dollars. That combination points to a richer mix, with fewer transactions carrying higher value.

Best Buy stabilized after three quarters of decline, holding 7.5% of units and easing -0.2 pts in dollars, its smallest quarterly movement in the past year.

Among secondary retailers:

• Costco edged up in units (+0.1 pts) but slipped -0.3 pts in dollars, a reversal of the pattern it showed in Q4
• Amazon lost ground in both units (-0.1 pts) and dollars (-0.2 pts), pausing the gradual progress it made through 2025
• Walmart posted the quarter’s clearest reversal, losing -0.5 pts in units and -0.5 pts in dollars after gaining share in three consecutive quarters

Regional and independent retailers, which sit outside the national accounts above, took 6.2% of category dollars on just 3.3% of units and recorded the largest dollar share gain of any retail group at +0.7 pts. That makes independents the highest-value channel per transaction in major appliances.

According to OpenBrand’s consumer survey data, the top major appliance retailers continue to lead in consumer traffic:

• Lowe’s: 38.9% draw rate
• Home Depot: 38.7% draw rate
• Best Buy: 19.1% draw rate

Lowe’s and Home Depot are now separated by just 0.2 pts of draw, effectively tied at the top of the funnel. The 7.4 pt gap in unit share between them is built almost entirely on conversion.

Best Buy continues to stand out on that measure, closing 69.6% of shoppers who consider it, compared to Lowe’s (64.3%) and Home Depot (61.1%). It holds the highest close rate in the category on roughly half the consideration base of the home centers.

Walmart shows the widest gap between traffic and conversion, drawing 9.0% of appliance shoppers but closing only 40.2%, meaning roughly six of every ten shoppers who consider Walmart buy elsewhere.

This reinforces a consistent pattern: secondary retailers face a traffic challenge, not a conversion problem.

For more insights on draw rates, and to see how these retailers compare in closing the consumers they brought in, explore the quarterly major appliances MarketSignal dashboard.

Brand rankings reordered at the top in Q1, with LG taking the unit share lead and Samsung recording the steepest decline of any major brand.

• Largest unit share gain: LG (+1.3 pts)
• Largest unit share decline: Samsung (-1.8 pts)
• Highest dollar share: LG (21.6%)
• Widest unit-to-dollar gap: GE (-3.3 pts)

LG took the unit share lead in Q1, rising from 17.4% to 18.7% (+1.3 pts), its highest level in five quarters. It also holds the top dollar share position at 21.6%, making it the only major brand leading both metrics at the same time.

GE gained modestly in units, moving from 16.2% to 16.4% (+0.2 pts), and now sits 2.3 pts behind LG in volume. Its dollar share of 13.1% against 16.4% of units reflects a value-weighted mix, the widest negative unit-to-dollar gap among the leading brands.

Whirlpool declined from 15.3% to 14.5% (-0.8 pts), giving back most of the momentum it built in Q4.

Samsung recorded the steepest drop of the quarter, falling from 14.2% to 12.4% (-1.8 pts). Its dollar share of 13.1% still exceeds its unit share, so the pressure is on volume rather than price realization.

Overall, Q1 shows a shift toward premium-weighted growth, with LG extending its lead in both units and dollars while value-oriented positions lost ground.

When purchasing major appliances, consumer consideration remains concentrated among a few key brands. OpenBrand’s Q1 2026 survey data shows:

• Frigidaire again stands out for efficiency. While considered by just 6.5% of shoppers, it converted 64.7% of those into buyers, the highest close rate among major brands.
• Samsung and LG both grew consideration this quarter, but only LG converted it into share. Samsung closed 61.4% of the shoppers it drew and still lost 1.8 pts of unit share, which points to a volume problem at the point of purchase rather than a demand problem.
• GE and Whirlpool both saw consideration decline while holding steadier on share, indicating they are converting a smaller funnel more efficiently.

Discover the factors, from pricing dynamics to promotional activity, influencing lower conversion rates in our latest quarterly major appliances MarketSignal dashboard.

Channel mix shifted back toward physical retail in Q1. According to OpenBrand’s Q1 2026 data, in-store now accounts for more than three-quarters of all appliance purchases.

Online purchases declined in Q1, giving back the gain recorded during the holiday quarter and landing below where the channel sat in Q3 2025. The Q4 lift looks like a seasonal promotional effect rather than a structural move.

The retailer data lines up with this. Amazon and Walmart, the two most digitally weighted appliance retailers, both lost unit and dollar share in the same quarter that in-store buying strengthened.

The category continues to rely on physical retail due to delivery logistics, installation requirements, and the need for in-person product evaluation.

OpenBrand’s census-balanced data highlights today’s appliance buyer.

In Q1 2026:

• 71% of buyers were homeowners
• 55% were married
• 62% of purchases were made by males only, compared to 38% by females only
• 60% of purchases came from Millennials and Gen X
  • Millennials: 33%
  • Gen X: 26%
• 19% of purchases came from Gen Z, nearly matching Baby Boomers at 19%

Millennials remain the largest buying group, continuing to shape demand patterns across the category. Gen X also represents a significant portion of buyers.

The clearest movement this quarter is at the younger end. Gen Z now accounts for roughly the same share of appliance purchases as Baby Boomers, and 27% of all buyers are renters rather than homeowners. Compact and entry-price formats are serving a larger cohort than the category has historically planned around.

Several key factors continue to influence where consumers choose to purchase major appliances, according to OpenBrand’s Q1 2026 consumer survey:

• Competitive pricing: 48.5%
• Product selection: 34.6%
• Prior experience: 25.9%
• Store location convenience: 25.8%

Price remains the most influential factor, but its weight fell 3.5 pts from Q4, the largest single-quarter drop among the four drivers. Selection and convenience also eased slightly.

Prior experience with the store was the only driver to gain, rising to 25.9% and moving ahead of location for the first time. Against a quarter where promotional depth thinned, buyers leaned modestly more on familiarity and less on the deal.

This is a shift in emphasis rather than a break from the 2025 pattern. Value still decides most purchases, but retailer relationships are doing incrementally more work than they were during the holiday quarter.

Looking ahead through 2026, several themes continue to shape the appliance market:

Retail remains concentrated: Lowe’s and Home Depot account for 77.4% of category units, making retail partnerships critical for brands.

Q1 acts as a normalization quarter: Post-holiday, promotional intensity, and channel mix both reset toward baseline, making Q1 a cleaner read on underlying demand than Q4.

Premium and value strategies are diverging further: LG leads both units and dollars while GE carries the widest negative unit-to-dollar gap, showing two distinct paths through the same category.

In-store regained ground: After a holiday-driven online lift, three of every four purchases moved back into physical locations.

Independents are punching above their volume: Regional retailers took 6.2% of dollars on 3.3% of units and posted the largest dollar share gain of any retail group.

Younger consumers are broadening the base: Gen Z now buys at nearly the same rate as Baby Boomers, reinforcing the need for entry-price and compact assortment alongside premium replacement.

To learn how OpenBrand can help your business stay ahead of market shifts, get in touch with our team.