A Brief Overview of the Company
The Home Depot, Inc., a home improvement retailer, was founded in 1978 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. As of January 2012, Home Depot operates 2,252 retail stores in all 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam and Mexico. Home Depot provides building materials and home improvement, garden and lawn products. These materials are marketed to both do-it-yourself and do-it-for-me customers. Products and services can be purchased in store or online at homedepot.com.
Home Depot serves several different markets as previously mentioned, professional contractors, both do-it-yourself and do-it-for-me customers. Home Depot provides incentives to professional contractors to purchase their materials and supplies from Home Depot by offering discounted prices for bulk orders, tiered discounts, free delivery to job sites and the ability to track spending per job. Do-it-yourself customers are also supported by Home Depot via a how to blog, do it yourself guides and streaming video and buying lists. In store support is also available. Home Depot also caters to do-it-for-me customers as well by providing home installation services, multiple financing options and a one year warranty on all installation services. Home Depot caters to these multiple market segments to expand their customer base and be able to have a good or service available to all those looking for home improvement.
The Home Depot (n.d –d) reports that they are the fastest growing retailer in U.S. history. They went public on NASDAQ in 1981 and then changed to the New York Stock Exchange in 1994. The Home Depot launched its first store in Canada in 1994 and its first Mexico store in 2001. Home Depot launched 12 stores in China in 2006 but decided to close all store in 2012 after years of losses (Reuters, n.d.).
Company’s Mission Statement and Philosophies
The Home Depot (n.d.-b) has developed a strong mission statement and eight core...