• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
Ellison Chair in International Floriculture
Ellison Chair in International FloricultureTeaching, Research, Extension and Service
  • Menu
  • #1593 (no title)
  • Benefits of Plants and Greenscapes
  • Plants, Nature, and Health Initiative
  • Marketing & Economics
  • Water Resources
  • Sustainability
  • Executive Academy for Growth & Leadership (EAGL)

The Home Depot "Index"

February 29, 2008 by Charlie

Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that fourth-quarter profit fell a sharper-than-expected 27% after the declining housing market hurt demand for its building and home goods supplies and the outlook for 2008 remains “challenging.”

Declining housing and credit markets have hurt consumers’ appetite for home supplies provided by Home Depot and rival Lowe’s, which said Monday that profit dropped 33%, with sales at stores open at least a year declining 7.6%.

To reduce costs, Home Depot said in January it would cut 10% of its headquarters staff, following moves to slow the pace of its stock buybacks and advertising-spending growth. The company, however, said it remains committed to $2.3 billion in capital spending this year. Home Depot has spent money on projects to make stores cleaner and brighter and improve customers’ experience after it lost market share to Lowe’s and other competitors.

What to make of this?

  • DIY retail sales will most likely continue to crawl. Of course, this is no surprise since lawn & landscape services have increased in recent years to offset declining DIY sales due to more DIFM (do-it-for-me) purchases.
  • Growers who sell to Home Depot and Lowe’s will still need to offer differentiated programs as usual — and pay particular attention to shrinkage and gross margin on a store-by-store basis.
  • Landscape service firms need to ratchet up the marketing efforts — especially emphasizing the return on investment from lawn & landscape improvements (see earlier posts).

Filed Under: News Tagged With: differentiation, economic forecasts, recession, retail, retail sector, service sector, value of landscaping

About the Chair

  • About the Chairholder
  • Donors
  • Contacts

Advisory Commitee

  • Overview
  • Permanent Seats
  • Rotating Seats
  • Ex-Officio Members
  • Members Emeritus
  • Early History of the Ellison Chair

Multimedia

  • Webinars
  • Distinguished Lecture Series

Conferences/Workshops

  • Executive Academy for Growth & Leadership (EAGL)
View Charlie Hall's profile on LinkedIn
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veteran's Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information