Home Depot 2011 Annual Report Download - page 9

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We help our professional, D-I-Y and D-I-F-M customers finance their projects by offering private label credit products in our
stores through third-party credit providers. In fiscal 2011, approximately 2.4 million new The Home Depot private label
credit accounts were opened, and at fiscal year end the total number of The Home Depot active account holders was
approximately 10 million. Private label credit card sales accounted for approximately 22% of sales in fiscal 2011. In addition,
to provide alternate payment options to our customers, in fiscal 2011 we launched a pilot program for our in-store customers
to use PayPal® and plan to roll it out more broadly in the fiscal year ending February 3, 2013 ("fiscal 2012").
Our Associates. Employee relations matter to us, and our associates are key to our customer service initiative. We empower
our associates to deliver excellent customer service through our Customers FIRST training program. At the end of fiscal
2011, we employed approximately 331,000 associates, of whom approximately 20,000 were salaried, with the remainder
compensated on an hourly or temporary basis. To attract and retain qualified personnel, we seek to maintain competitive
salary and wage levels in each market we serve. We measure associate satisfaction regularly and maintain multiple means of
ensuring effective communications with our associates. We believe that our employee relations are very good.
Product Authority
Our Products. Our product portfolio strategy is aimed at delivering innovation, assortment and value. A typical Home
Depot store stocks approximately 30,000 to 40,000 products during the year, including both national brand name and
proprietary items. We also offer over 300,000 products through our website, homedepot.com. To enhance our merchandising
capabilities, we made enhancements to our information technology tools in fiscal 2011 to give our merchants and vendors
greater visibility into category and item performance. In addition, as part of a multi-phased project to improve our special
order performance and make the special order process both simpler and more accurate for our customers and associates, we
digitized our vendor catalogs in fiscal 2011.
In fiscal 2011, we continued to introduce a number of innovative and distinctive products to our customers at attractive
values. Examples of these new products include lithium battery technology for power tools, Ryobi® lithium ion cordless
outdoor tools, Glidden® DUO™ paint + primer, Toro® gas trimmers and organic lawn care products from Vigoro®.
To complement and enhance our product selection, we continued to form strategic alliances and exclusive relationships with
selected suppliers to market products under a variety of well-recognized brand names. During fiscal 2011, we offered a
number of proprietary and exclusive brands across a wide range of departments, such as Defiant® door locks, Everbilt®
hardware fasteners, Husky® paint tools and hand tools, Hampton Bay® lighting, Vigoro® lawn care products, RIDGID® and
Ryobi® power tools and Glacier Bay® bath fixtures. We also continued our partnership with Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia to offer the exclusive Martha Stewart Living brand in select categories including outdoor living, paint, cabinetry,
flooring, and shelving and storage. We will continue to assess strategic alliances and relationships with suppliers and
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 program to obtain high-quality products directly from
manufacturers around the world. Our merchant team identifies and purchases 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.
Quality Assurance. We have both quality assurance and engineering resources that are dedicated to overseeing the quality
of all of our products, whether they are directly imported, locally or globally sourced or proprietary branded products.
Through these programs, we have established criteria for supplier and product performance that are designed to ensure that
our products comply with applicable international, federal, state and local safety, quality and performance standards. We also
have a Supplier Social and Environmental Responsibility Program designed to ensure that our suppliers adhere to the highest
standards of social and environmental responsibility.
Energy Saving Products and Programs. As the world's largest home improvement retailer, we are in a unique position to
enable our customers to achieve energy savings through our products and services and to educate our customers about
"green" products and practices. Through our Eco Options® Program introduced in fiscal 2007, we have created product
categories that allow consumers to easily identify environmentally preferred product selections in our stores. Our Eco
Options® Program has certified over 4,000 products that meet specifications for energy efficiency, water conservation,
healthy home, clean air and sustainable forestry. Through this program, we sell products such as ENERGY STAR®
refrigerators, dishwashers, compact fluorescent light ("CFL") bulbs, EcoSmart® LED light bulbs, programmable thermostats,
water heaters and other products, enabling our customers to save on their utility bills. LED light bulbs, which use
approximately 85% less energy and last up to 20 years longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, were one of our fastest
growing categories for the year. In fiscal 2011, the sales of ENERGY STAR® qualified products helped consumers save over