The Home Depot store on 59th St in Manhattan uses its storefront to attract its customers. In his book Why We Buy, Paco Underhill points out “the front of a store has utmost importance in determining who enters.” When it comes to generating traffic, and attracting people to buy, the front of the store has the most pull. To attract people to its store, the Home Depot location took advantage of its bright orange colors against the surrounding bland cement buildings with bright orange balloons as flags. The bright color pop on the East side, drawing peoples eyes and attention towards their store.
This Hope Depot Location is appeal to a more feminine, woman-based market. This is apparent as soon as you walk into the store. One main thing
…show more content…
We knew where the Flat Iron location of the Home Depot was before we even looked up the address. My sister lives in that same area, so granted this wasn’t a complete miracle, but still, something about the unique building had stuck out to me long before I even knew I would be investigating it. Surrounded by generic looking shops and apartment buildings, the Home Depot stood out as a pristine white building, bearing ornate columns and huge orange signs, stark against their white backgrounds. After a few seconds, we remembered our mission, and bustled into the store that was surprisingly full for a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. After wandering around for a while, we were left with a mental list of possible reasons why so many people return to Home Depot. What does Home Depot do to encourage its patrons to shop there? After further thought, we came to the conclusion that there are primarily four main reasons. They are as simple, and as difficult as this. First, luring the customer in with a well-crafted and easily accessible layout, then making the customer feel completely at home and at ease in their stores, and finally, supplying excellent customer service.
On first entering a Home Depot, there isn’t actually much of anything. A few shopping baskets are placed near the front for convenience, there are
The Home Depot’s two main customers are at home “do-it-yourselfers” and contractors. The main products and services offered help solve the wants and needs of customers involved with home construction and maintenance,
The Home Depot mission statement reads as follows: “The Home Depot is in the home improvement business and our goal is to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices. We are a values-driven company and our eight values include the following: excellent customer service, taking care of our people, giving back, doing the “right” things, creating shareholder value, respect for all people, entrepreneurial spirit, and building strong relationships.”
This allows Home Depot to better utilize resources by targeting demographic categories that are likely to be interested in home improvement or contracting services. Home Depot advertises a low price guarantee, including beating competitors’ prices by 10% (The Home Depot, 2016). Home Depot’s current marketing slogan is “More Saving, More Doing”. Home Depot markets to both the inexperienced homeowner as well as contractors for its products and services. The company’s marketing strategy, slogan, and price match guarantee all fit the current corporate strategy of growth through increasing sales at existing retail locations and online to both contractors and homeowners. As an organization within an industry where low price is likely necessary due to lack of differentiation, Home Depot’s marketing strategy focused on low price is necessary. The low-cost without focus strategy at the business level is also aligned with this marketing focus. Since Home Depot is looking to gain customers in the broader market, focusing on both do-it-yourself customers and contractors is
Retailing building supply stores have become a popular retail industry sector due to increased public awareness and the need of many homeowners for the home improvement products. Back in the 1970s, long before warehouse stores ruled home improvement land, do-it-yourselfers shopped at “home centers.” These 30,000 square foot stores offered cheaper prices and wider selection of products, about 25,000 more than local hardware stores and eliminated the extra trip to the lumberyard. The dependence of many of these retailers upon the homebuilding industry for much of their business has also been reduced and the warehouse superstores, such as Home Depot, have become more important. The smaller companies in the
More savings. More doing. Now that’s the power of Home Depot (homedepot.com). “ The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, along with investment banker Ken Langone and merchandising guru Pat Farrah” (corporate.homedepot.com). The founders envisioned a “one-stop shop” for the do-it-yourselfer. The first Home Depot opened June 22,1979 in Atlanta, Georgia. The first stores had around 60,000 square feet that dwarfed the competition stocking over 25,000 SKUs much more than any other hardware store at the time (corporate.homedepot.com). As a facade to look like there was an abundance of merchandise The Home Depot would stack empty boxes on the shelves. Home Depot has come a long way since their humble beginnings.
From its roots as a vision in 1978 of a home improvement superstore The Home Depot has become a giant in this sector. Influenced by the “do-it-yourself” customer or the corporate contractors each policy and business plan is developed with a consumer stake holder emphasis. As its founders stated “We’re in the people business” (Planning), and this is maintained in its business structure today. Set up as a direct to consumer warehouse of home improvement and building products
Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in the U.S. by some accounts. It has a fascinating history of innovation and entrepreneurship. The company had some difficulties in the mid-2000s that some attribute to cultural clashes. However, during this period the company was able to take full advantage of the housing boom. Yet when the bubble burst, Home Depot was forced to claim substantial losses. Despite these loses Home Depot has weathered the storm fairly well and is in prime position to take advantage of an economic recovery; if it ever comes.
While Lowes and Home Depot follow similar differentiation and low cost strategies, there are a few differences in marketing due to the fact that Lowes seems to be more targeted towards women with bright and colorful displays, wide aisles and product stacking that is lower and easier to reach (Clemons, 2012). While this is a calculated decision because women make 80% of home improvement decisions, it may distract from growth in the contractor business since the vast majority of home improvement professionals are men. The advantage shifts toward Home Depot since men also spend thirty five percent more than women on home improvement supplies therefore, attracting men may actually be more efficient in terms of return of investment (Goodfellow, 2013). The ability to quickly locate products and return to work is a tremendous advantage for contractors who would prefer to be on the job instead of leisurely strolling the aisles of a store while examining multitudes of options. This may be a major component of Home Depot’s rebound since they derive a larger percentage of their sales from professionals and the rebounding housing markets and rebuilding efforts from Hurricane Sandy have introduced significant cash flow into the industry (Cheng, 2013).
When the Tatelman brothers took over the business, they changed their mode of advertising. They realized that by limiting their advertising to newspapers, they were potentially missing out on a whole demographic of people that needed furniture, which would be 18-34 year olds. This demographic was starting to move out on their own, starting families, and needed furniture. By moving from newspapers to funny radio ads and later funny TV ads, Barry and Eliot were able to draw in more customers, especially the demographic they were targeting (Iacobucci, 2013). Before they started to add in the extra shopping experiences, they had customers waiting to get into their third store. Once they added the entertainment portions of the store, they were able to draw in more customers. Even if the customer is only there to take part in the entertainment aspect of the store, which is in the back of every store, they do have to walk through the showroom first. By walking through the showroom a first time customer could see a room design or one piece of furniture that catches their eye. Each customer has a different shopping experience, whether it be at one store or multiple Jordan’s Furniture
The Home Depot knows that they must stay on top of technology and management must be able to organize this function in a way that surpasses the competition, pleases the customers, and keep the employees satisfied.
(The Home Depot, Inc, 2006) Customer service at home depot is one of the most important priorities. What better than enhancing customer service than providing a small coffee shop in the store for our early risers? The benefits of this service will make it convenient. Most of The Home Depot early risers are contractors who purchase their materials early to start their projects for the day. Having a small coffee shop in the location will save the customer time by not having to stop elsewhere for a quick breakfast before a long day at work.
The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is a home improvement, construction products and services retailer operating over 2,000 big-box stores in the United States and abroad. The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank with the vision of one-stop shopping for do-it-yourself (DIY) customers, installation services for do-it-for-me (DIFM) customers and competitive products for the professional market. Their DIFM installation programs include products such as carpeting, flooring, cabinets, countertops, and water heaters. In addition, the company provides installation of various professional products like generators and HVAC systems.
Home Depot and Lowe's believe in big warehouse space, an informal atmosphere and low prices. They are able to offer the lower prices to consumers due to their purchasing power. Inventory differs depending on the story type, home centers typically sock more lumber and building supplies, as their biggest customers are contractors. They pay their floor employees minimum wage, and keep overall costs down by keeping them as part time employees.
Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer operating in 45 states, Canada, Chili and Puerto Rico. Home Depot stores aim to serve both do-it-yourselfers and professional contractors with home improvement superstores carrying between 40,000 and 50,000 different products. Home Depot has also been listed as one of Fortune's most admired specialty retailers for the past six years. In order for companies to succeed in the competitive current marketplace they must consider not only the bottom line and their investors but also their impacts on the community, their employees, and their customers. Home Depot was founded on the idea that treating employees well is an important responsibility. Home Depot believes employees that are
Retail stores are reeling in more and more personalities to shop at their stores just by making use of customers ability to use sight. Based off the essay written by Thomas Hine, What’s in a Package, popular retail stores everywhere are glorifying the use of their nice-looking packaging. It’s an advertising gimmick brainwashing the consumer’s mind into recognizing the packaging of an item and perceive it as desirable. To prove this theory true, I went to a local retail store in West Covina called Ross. It didn’t take long to realize how much the store valued the packaging of not only their items, but also the store itself.