Home Depot Executive Summary

Introduction to Home Depot

Home Depot stands out as the market leader in the home improvement industry. With the concept envisioned by two coworkers, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, involving creating a chain of home-improvement warehouses selling a variety of products with a customer-oriented expert staff under one roof, Home Depot opened its first stores in 1978 in Atlanta. It concentrated heavily on offering a huge selection of home improvement merchandise at the lowest price, with customer service associates dedicated to providing expert guidance to consumers (primarily home owners and contractors). The stores were an instant success following which Marcus and Blank initiated an aggressive well-planned expansion program. (Bailey, 2014)

With an average annual sales growth of 119%, it was proclaimed as a market leader, with the distinction of being the fastest growing retailer of home improvement merchandise. A Merrill Lynch study on publicly traded companies ranking them on the “quality of earnings” metric, gave Home Depot the top position, followed by capturing the title of “America’s Most Admired Specialty Retailer” by Fortune Magazine. Business week cited Home Depot as “Ten Best Boards in the U.S.” By 2013, the company had grown from three stores employing 200 people to more than 2,263 stores employing 365,000 people. It reported net sales of $78.8 billion, an increase of 5.4% from its 2012 sales. (Annual Report, 2014)

The Home Depot stores average 104,000 square feet of enclosed space, with an additional 24,000 square feet of outside garden area. The stores sell a huge assortment of home improvement products, lawn products and several other services and are located in all 50 states in the U.S along with other non-US territories, Canada and Mexico. (Annual Report, 2014)

Values and

It offers in-store purchases and also online sales through its website for the convenience of its DIY customers. Additionally, Home Depot sends out email newsletters with announcements of events at their local stores. Home Depot multi-channel retailing has expanded its reach among and beyond its customer base. Its online sales increased by 50% in the last year and makes up for 3.5% of its net sales (www.emarketer.com, 2014). Home Depot’s net sale for the fiscal year ending February 2014 was $ 78,812 million, which is a 5.4% increase over its previous year’s sales (Yahoo Finance, 2014). As a part of their marketing efforts, Home Depot expensed on television and radio production costs and media placement