Question

What do home depot customers need from a home improvement planning, shopping and buying experience? How do home depot store-based customers differ from non-store customers? How can technology help home depot better meet the needs of all their customers?

How does home depot compete in terms of positioning itself as THE destination for all home improvement needs? How can it improve?

How has merchandising and category management changed at Home Depot over time? How has home depot’s merchandising strategy be exemplified online and integrated into its store presence?

Answer 1

Home depot customer

Success of home depot is all about customer experience.

Home depots value proposition to customers is also based around the long term nature of the engagement that they will have with products purchases.

With that in mind, customers need to be sure of their buying decisions or their perceptions of home depot. So the home depot needs to be in a position to assist both offline and online.

When a customer wants to buy something, he wants to be satisfied from quality, workmanship, guarantees results, backed up by a great brand and they want convenience. There should be service provider at any time and for any of their needs.

A home depot should be able to take ownership of the customers needs anand healthy experience.

Home depot customers are the ones who prefer physical experience while purchasing anything whereas non store customers are those who get involved into online purchase and rely on the brands and ratings before buying products or services.

Home depot store based customers are generally who have more time and put more efforts in making the purchases as compared to non store customers who buy things online and spend less time in physical purchases.

Technology can help home depot to improve their services and meet the customer needs better. It can help in offering improved products and services.

Virtual reality is now becoming a significant tool for commercial retailers

Augmented reality is the I that overlays a digital artifice into physical space

Mobile apps leverages technology to let customers place virtual items into real world via their phones. The feature works for furniture vanities and many other necessities.

Retail gamification has come a long way. Now a days companies are offering promotions through gamifications to increase customer engagement

LED technology can help to solve in store congestion problems with heat mapping. By connecting LED lights to cameras, the technology can visualise where bodies are in a physical space

Concept stores sans checkouts are cropping around the world and items are tracked and tied to a mobile credit account so that shopper can bypass the checkout line with their purchases.

Home depot competes with all other options to be the destination for all home improvement needs as it offers a wide range of products and services

The improvement needed is in terms if customer satisfaction and after sale service which will help them to maintain and grow the reputationreputation, brand and market expanse.

Merchandizing and category management has changed the home depot over time.

Staple merchandise, fashion merchandise seasonal mercandise and fad merchandise - these diverse offers affect the home depot.

Category management rely on historical sales data to predict customer demand to calculate the production and supply needed for the time.

Home depot merchandising offers the diversions offered in category management and specifications can help home depot and can help to improve customer experience .