Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer with over 2,200 stores and $74.8 billion in annual sales. Its digital strategy aims to seamlessly integrate online, mobile, and in-store experiences. While Home Depot has strong brand recognition and engaged social media, its website lacks personalization and misses opportunities for up-sells. Recommendations include personalizing the site, elevating top brands, growing content, moving services online, and using data to create customer profiles.

1. HOME DEPOT DIGITAL STRATEGY
ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Presented by
Steve Gilberg
June 11, 2013

2. Today’s Presentation:
• Home Depot Background
• Digital Strategy
• Digital Channels
• Strengths & Challenges
• Recommendations

3. Home Depot Background:
• Founded in 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia, and today operates more than 2,200
home improvement stores
• Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer with
fiscal 2012 retail sales of $74.8 billion and earnings of $4.5 billion
• Home Depot stores sell building materials, home improvement products, and
lawn and garden products, as well as provide installation, home maintenance,
and professional service programs to do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me, and
professional customers.
• The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) Stock Price: 77.73, 1.01 (June 10, 2013) and is
included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500
index.
• Top Competitor: Lowes (LOW) Stock Price: 41.18,  0.42 (June 10, 2013)
• Kevin Hofmann: SVP and President – Online

4. Digital Strategy:
To seamlessly integrate in-store, e-commerce, and
mobile platforms to improve the customer experience
• Provide Inspiration
• Sell More Product
• Facilitate Projects

5. Digital Channels:
E-Commerce:
• 40K SKUs, 300K SKUs via Buy Online, Ship to Store
• 2011 Revenue: $600MM, Annual Growth: 8%
• 60% of HD consumers research large purchases online
• Site Statistics:
• Alexa U.S. Ranking: 69 (Lowes: 110)
• Search Visits: 26.2% (Lowes: 24.8)
• Average Visit: 6 minutes, 44 seconds per pageview
• Site Demographics:
• Gender: Mostly Female
• Age: 25-64, most 35-44 and 55-64
• Children in Household: 55% No Kids
• Household Income: 31% $100-150K
• Education: 56% College Graduates
• Ethnicity: 79% Caucasian
Mobile:
• 4MM App Downloads
• Browse and shop via any iOS, Android, or Windows device
• Have the store in your pocket
• Check local store inventory and view in-store aisle location

6. Digital Channels, cont.
Social Media:
• Facebook: 1.1MM Likes (Lowes: 2.4MM Likes)
• Twitter: 125K Followers (Lowes: 93K Followers) Richard the Cat: 806 Followers
• YouTube: Home Depot Channel: 28K Subscribers/2.8K Videos (Lowes Channel: 49K
Subscribers/1.1K Videos)
• Pinterest: Active in DIY, Projects, Flowers, Paint, Cabinets
SEM:
• 2011 SEM Estimate Spend: $50.3MM (Source: Larry Kim, Wordstream)
• Common Keywords and CPC
• Home Air Conditioning, $8.67
• Replacement Window Cost, $8.03
• Appliance Repair, $7.06
• Cabinet Refacing. $6.07

7. Strengths:
• Brand Strength, Product Assortment
• Female demo drives sales
• Social Media engagement is very strong
• DIY Videos instill confidence, drive sales
• Mobile apps deliver Home Depot on-the-go
Challenges:
• Website is one-size-fits-all
• Needs more UX testing. Difficult to find services.
• Missing Up-Sell and Cross-Sell Opportunities
• No iPad App
• Practically no personalization
• Pro/Contractor segment is generally not tech savvy or at an education level to
use sophisticated online tools

8. Recommendations:
1. Site Personalization!
2. Elevate Big Brands - Increases SEO, Traffic and Visibility
3. Grow Content Development Strategy
4. Move all In-Home Scheduling Services Online
5. Multi-Language Site to Support Pros – Spanish (Polish?)
6. Integrate BlackLocus data collection and analysis techniques to create a
multi-dimensional profile of each HD customer
7. Engage Dotomi to personalize HD’s online marketing to achieve greater ROAS
and increased user engagement

9. Questions?

10. More Selling, More Doing.
Steve Gilberg
773-610-9048
smgilberg@gmail.com
LinkedIn.com/stevengilberg