New look for Home Depot

Whether this transformation is to be attributed to the influence of its new CEO, Bob Nardelli, who has stated he wants to soften the group’s warehouse image, or management’s recognition of the competitive effectiveness of Lowe’s and Menards, which have less of a warehouse look, one thing is certain: the new Depot units in Indianapolis are brighter, more imaginatively merchandised and less intimidating than older warehouse-type designs. Ceilings are painted white, and the light levels are much greater than in earlier Depots.
In fact, these Home Depots remind one in many ways of a Lowe’s layout, if you can substitute blue in your imagination for the orange of the Home Depot livery. There is a large open area in the centre of the store for kitchen displays, and another open area for paints, wall coverings and window decoration, etc. Also featured are imaginatively presented pockets of products to brighten up the warehouse racking. Tie-in item displays encourage impulse purchases. Signage is better and more widely used.
Home Depot is now also promoting major appliances, which were featured in its opening advertising circular. Lowe’s has always been big in appliances and is said to be second only to Sears. Menards also is now stocking majors. Neither Depot nor Menards, however, has the assortment or the experience of Lowe’s in this category.
Depot is now aggressively courting professional and contractor business, with separate loading docks for them and early opening hours, plus strong signing to promote the plant hire department.
During opening day sales floors were absolutely flooded with orange-clad employees and vendor representatives. Some employees were brought in from the Chicago stores to assist during the opening. Many vendor representatives were conducting small demonstrations of their products to further entice customers into thinking Depot is different.