Home Depot's Competitive Strengths

Operations Strategy

The Home Depot’s mission statement is “to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products, and the most competitive prices." (Homedepot.com) In order for the company to follow through with their mission they provide their consumers with expertly trained associates who are able to teach customers how to handle power tools, change a valve, or lay tile. It is not enough to tell or sell their customer’s the product, the associates have to be able to show them out to complete their tasks through DIY clinics or one-on-one workshops offered by The Home Depot.

The Home Depot has remodeled its supply chain by building a foundation for a new type of fulfillment center designed to blend online and in-store

Two major quality elements include a high performance design and great product and service consistency. Home Depot continues to reign over competitors by bringing innovative and exclusive products to its stores. We understand our shoppers, they are do-it-yourselfers who watch HDTV or have very specific needs. We have introduced Jeff Lewis, who is famous for flipping houses, tiles and paint into our product line up which is exclusive to The Home Depot. This gained a positive response from our customers because it offers high-end quality designer products at a reasonable

The strength of an operations strategy is dependent on the level of consistency between competitive priorities and decisions concerning operational structure and infrastructure. Home Depot’s future relies on its associates, customers, and subcontractors. While Home Depot has done a lot of restructuring to remain at the top of the leaderboard in the home improvement industry, there is still a lot of improvements to be made in the future.

To be more efficient, Home Depot can ensure their associates receive continuous training on product knowledge in order to be more prepared to answer consumer questions. Customers have high expectations for Home Depot, in order to exceed those expectations; associates should have a thorough understanding of the products they are selling. Using technology to train employee about various products and corporate procedures can have its advantages and disadvantages. Difficulty can arise from (1) managers allocating time for associates to train from technology-based modules. This will take associates off the selling floor with only a few associates left to engage with Home Depot consumers (2) employees becoming unmotivated to learn because of lack of support and reassurance from management staff (3) technology-based learning approach does not appeal to everyone, making it difficult to retain the