Company Profile of The Home Depot
ANALYSIS #1
1. COMPANY BACKGROUND
Home Depot Inc. was founded in 1978 and is the world's prevalent 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.
Home Depot stores sell a wide variety of building materials, home improvement and garden products. Additionally, the company operates four Villager's Hardware test stores, which offer products for home enhancement and small projects. In mid-year, Home Depot also launched a Home Depot Floor Store, located in Plano, Texas.
Home Depot stores serve three primary customer groups: do-it-yourself (D-I-Y) customers, who are characteristically homeowners that purchase products and complete their own projects and installations; buy-it-yourself (B-I-Y) customers, who are typically homeowners that pay for materials themselves, and hire third parties to complete the project and/or installation; and professional patrons, who are professional repair re-modelers, general contractors and trades people.
Home Depot stores average approximately 108,000 square feet of enclosed space, with an additional approximately 24,000 square feet in the outside garden area. The co-founder of Home Depot Inc. retired as co-chairman on May 30, 2001. Arthur Blank, 58 years old, ran Home Depot since its inception in 1978 and was chief executive from May 1997 to December 2000. He will not seek re-election to the board. Co-founder Bernie Marcus, 71, the company's other co-chairman, is expected to continue as chairman. Blank decided to retire sooner than he had planned, primarily because of