Home Depot 2009 Annual Report Download - page 9

partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to offer an exclusive Martha Stewart Living brand of home
improvement products in select categories including outdoor living and paint. We may consider additional
strategic alliances and relationships with other suppliers and will continue to assess opportunities to expand the
range of products available under brand names that are exclusive to The Home Depot.
From our Store Support Center we maintain a global sourcing merchandise program to source high-quality
products directly from manufacturers around the world. Our merchant team identifies and purchases market
leading innovative products directly for our stores. Additionally, we have three sourcing offices located in the
Chinese cities of Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dalian, and offices in Gurgaon, India; Rome, Italy; Monterrey,
Mexico and Toronto, Canada.
Services. Our stores offer a variety of installation services. These services target D-I-F-M customers who
select and purchase products and installation of those products from us. These installation programs include
products such as carpeting, flooring, cabinets, countertops and water heaters. In addition, we provide
professional installation of a number of products sold through our in-home sales programs, such as generators
and furnace and central air systems.
Store Growth.
United States. At the end of fiscal 2009, we were operating 1,976 The Home Depot stores in the U.S.,
including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. During
fiscal 2009, we opened five new The Home Depot stores in the U.S.
Canada. At the end of fiscal 2009, we were operating 179 The Home Depot stores in ten Canadian provinces.
Of these stores, three were opened during fiscal 2009.
Mexico. At the end of fiscal 2009, we were operating 79 The Home Depot stores in Mexico. Of these stores,
five were opened during fiscal 2009.
China. At the end of fiscal 2009, we were operating 10 The Home Depot stores in four Chinese cities.
Net Sales for the Company outside of the U.S. were $7.0 billion for fiscal 2009 and were $7.4 billion for fiscal
2008 and 2007. Long-lived assets outside of the U.S. totaled $3.0 billion, $2.8 billion and $3.1 billion as of
January 31, 2010, February 1, 2009 and February 3, 2008, respectively.
Store Support Services
Information Technologies. During fiscal 2009, we continued to make information technology investments to
better support our customers and provide an improved overall shopping environment and experience. We
invested in our supply chain and merchandising tools to improve inventory management capabilities and
streamline our operations.
With regard to our supply chain, in fiscal 2009 we continued implementation of our new warehouse
management system and new transportation management system. We also made additional enhancements to our
Central Automated Replenishment system.
We provided additional tools and made improvements to existing tools utilized in merchandising systems in the
areas of assortment management, forecasting and replenishment.
With our continued focus on the stores, we provided additional technology improvements designed to help store
associates perform their tasks and improve customer service. In fiscal 2009, we equipped 1,977 stores with new
servers, 211 stores with new computers, registers and printers and 63 stores with new paint dispensers.
Credit Services. We offer private label credit products in our stores through a third-party credit provider to
professional, D-I-Y and D-I-F-M customers. In fiscal 2009, approximately 2.8 million new The Home Depot
3