Home Depot : The Largest Home Improvement Retailer

The visual representations of their mission and vision are utilized to instill core values and principles for their associates, define the scope and purpose of the organization, and reiterate and support their competitive position as the world’s leading home improvement retailer. The Home Depot accredits its success to their values. They believe that treating people well, encouraging risks, recognizing and awarding performance, and developing and leading people are the factors. In order to remain successful they maintain an environment of mutual respect, and have a zero tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment.

Home Depot has clearly set itself up to be successful in the recent upswing in the housing markets. Their technology upgrade has proven to be successful in keeping stores stocked and employees more engaged with helping the customers.

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.

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.

If we look at Home Depot's business segments and the statistics on new home sales, we can see where the challenge is. According to the Commerce Department, sales of new homes grew by 6.6% in the month, setting the annual pace for 2010 to 307,000 total units sold. Although, there was an increase in September, this annual pace is the worst on new home sales since 1963, even when mortgage rates are at an all time low. This signifies why there would be disappointment from Home Depot. It is quite obvious that they will continue to struggle, at least through the 4th quarter of this year due to an industry dependent upon a strong real estate market.

Home Depot strives to provide the highest quality service to its customers. Home Depot achieves this by hiring professionals such as, carpenters, plumbers, and paint specialists. These experts are invaluable resources for less knowledgeable customers looking for a certain product or working on a new project. The Home Depot staff can help customers pick out larger and more difficult items such as showers, vinyl siding, carpet, appliances, and plumbing. After the purchase, Home Depot will have the items delivered and installed in the customer’s home. Home Depot’s focus on “product authority” is one of the main and drivers for the company’s high quality service.

Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank founded Home Depot Corp in 1978 (The Home Depot, 2013). The business created strategic product analysis providing an assortment of items to consumers. From the beginning, workers have been able to deliver superior customer satisfaction in the business, helping consumers with jobs such as handling power tools, changing out parts on appliances, laying tile, etc. The Home Depot employees all underwent arduous training to familiarize each employee with products. In addition, the business began hosting workshops to teach consumers on how to do things themselves.

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.

An industry of competition, and tight margins The Home Depot, and Lowe 's Company are still at it. Both of these companies stand now as the industry standard for the home improvement sector. The numbers that will be presented in this study show proof that both companies have extremely strong financial positions, and a long future in the home improvement industry. Competition is good for the retailer, but even better for the customer.

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

One of the differentiating factors of Home Depot was that it incorporated within its members a major aversion to any kind of beauracracy and hierarchy. It was a usual practice at the stores to ignore all kind of paperwork that was sent to them by the headquarters. They undervalued such directives to the extent that they would throw these papers in the waste basket or mark them with “BS” stamp and send it back to the headquarters. They believed that all this was a waste of time of the managers and they had more important things to address to at their stores, the most important of them being : satisfying the

In addition to the rapid increase in online shopping (Amazon.com has a lower cost structure than Home Depot inc.) and the growing trends of home delivery, Home Depot’s ability to control the prices and demand their own product and service margins is being greatly challenged by these online retailers. Though Home Depot has entered the e-commerce zone, the company still needs to respond to new challenges like distribution networks, order fulfillment and direct delivery services.

The Home Depot Inc. was founded in 1978 and is the world’s largest home improvement retailer and the second largest retailer in the United States. The sales for the fiscal year 2000 were $45.7 billion, compared to $38.4 billion in fiscal 1999. As of January 2001, the company was operating 1,134 retail stores in forty-seven states, six Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico, Chile and Argentina.

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.

A strong foundation for success and growth was already in place in Home Depot under Marcus leadership. The company demonstrated a very strong culture, built on entrepreneurialism and customer service. Abundant promotion opportunities were created due to rapid growth attracting carpenters, plumbers and other building professionals as salespeople. Most of the non-entry-level jobs were filled internally, and from the 400 department heads, just a dozen came from outside the company. Additionally, employee stock