BUS 482
Strategic Analysis
Professor Bevensee
The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc. (The Home Depot), based in Georgia, US, is a home improvement retailer. The Company operates The Home Depot stores, which are full-service, warehouse-style stores. The Home Depot stores sell an assortment of building materials, home improvement and lawn and garden products and provide a number of services. The Home Depot stores average approximately 104,000 square feet of enclosed space, with approximately 24,000 additional square feet of outside garden area. The Home Depot stores serve three primary customer groups: do-it-yourself (D-I-Y) customers, do-it-for-me (D-I-F-M) customers and professional customers. As of January 29, 2012, the Company was operating 2,252 The Home Depot stores, which included 1,974 stores in the United States, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories of the United States, Virgin Islands and Guam, 180 stores in Canada, 91 stores in Mexico and 7 stores in China. The Company also offers over 300,000 products through its Website, homedepot.com. One of the co-founders (1978) of The Home Depot along side Bernard “Bearnie” Marcus who is an American pharmacist and retail entrepreneur and philanthropist, is NFL (Atlanta Falcons) team owner Arthur Blank. The Home Depot is the second largest retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart; and the third largest retailer in the world, behind Wal-Mart and French company Carrefour. Back in 2004 sales totaled up to $73.1 billion. It was ranked #13 on the FORTUNE 500 list, The Home Depot also owns a chain of higher-end home decorating and appliance stores. The continuous rebirth and the work to sustain culture that produces good products, employees, and customers has helped Home Depot maintain its competitive advantage and lead the retail building industry over the years. The company's management put a lot of emphasis on taking care of its employees, encouraging an