I have never doubted the marketing genius of Home Depot since that day two years ago when I, a single woman with no carpentry skills, bought a shop vac. Now Home Depot is the nation's #2 retailer behind Wal-Mart. How'd that happen? It starts with an always-tinkering CEO whose business plan sounds vaguely like world domination: "'Home Depot will provide components to the infrastructure around your home. There will be materials provided from Home Depot in the road around your home. The water you drink will be transported through valves and pipes that Home Depot will supply. The hotel room that you stay in will be supported by Home Depot from construction to décor.'"
When that's done, Home Depot department managers will then invoke first-night rights in their local markets. But not to worry. All will be made right once they open their own convenience stores.
2 comments:
Irene, nice post. What The Home Depot should be doing is allowing customers to easily keep a database of what home imporvement projects they're doing around their current home. Eventually, when enough people start entering information, HD could the information to draw new movers into their store by allowing them to browse, using a kiosk, what projects have been completed on that particular home, and what maintenence products had been regularly bought, including notes from the previous owners.
Given that there's now a Home Depot within 2.1 miles of every American, it could become the world's first Home Relationship Management database. ;)
Hi Krishnan! Thanks for that comment. You know, one possible upside of such a plan is that it might motivate homeowners to buy more upscale materials. If you knew your repair history was going to be used to attract buyers, you might go with the slate tiles instead of the ceramic. Home Depot could do a LOT more to relate to homebuyers and homeowners. (I know because I just recently moved into my house and re-did a room). Maybe that's next in their grand plan.
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