Home Depot Inc's Customers Performance

Our Customers. The Home Depot stores serve three primary customer groups, and we have different customer service approaches to meet their particular needs:

Do-It-Yourself ("DIY") Customers. These customers are typically home owners who purchase products and complete their own projects and installations. Our associates assist these customers with specific product and installation questions both in our stores and through online resources and other media designed to provide product and project knowledge. We also offer a variety of clinics and workshops both to impart this knowledge and to build an emotional connection with our DIY customers.

Do-It-For-Me ("DIFM") Customers. These customers are typically home owners who purchase materials and hire third parties to complete the project or installation. Our stores offer a variety of installation services targeted at DIFM customers who purchase products and installation of those products from us in our stores, online or in their homes through in-home consultations. Our installation programs include many categories, such as flooring, cabinets, countertops, water heaters, and sheds. In addition, we provide professional installation in a number of categories sold through our in-home sales programs, such as roofing, siding, windows, kitchen and bath refacing, furnaces, and central air systems.

Professional Customers. These customers are primarily professional remodelers, general contractors, repairmen, small business owners and tradesmen. We recognize the unique service needs of the professional customer and use our expertise to facilitate their buying experience. We offer a variety of special programs to these customers, including delivery and will-call services, dedicated staff, expanded credit programs, designated parking spaces close to store entrances and bulk pricing programs for both online and in-store purchases. In fiscal 2013, we launched a mobile app for our professional customers, which enables them to see multiple stores inventory at one time, provides them with direct access to our pro desks, and gives them other functionality to help them better manage their businesses. We also introduced Pro Xtra, a new loyalty program that provides our professional customers with discounts on useful business services, exclusive product offers and a purchase tracking tool to enable receipt lookup online and job tracking of purchases across all forms of payment.
In fiscal 2013, we undertook a number of projects and new developments to enhance our customers shopping experiences. Our goal is to remove complexity from the stores to allow our associates to focus on our customers.

To assist our BOPIS and BOSS customers, we rolled out a new customer service training for our associates called Customer FIRST for the Interconnected Customer, which stresses the importance of quick customer pickup of merchandise. To support this initiative, we enabled our First Phone mobile handheld devices to complete BOPIS and BOSS transactions from anywhere in the store. Now our online customers can come into the store, retrieve their merchandise and complete the transaction without having to stand in line at the cash register. During fiscal 2013, we also revamped our freight flow process to improve our in-stock rate and accuracy of our on-hand inventory count while also shifting more of the stocking activity to take place when stores are closed so as not to interfere with our customers shopping experience.
In fiscal 2013, we continued to automate our special order and installation process to improve transparency and communication and to simplify the customer experience. In addition, we are rolling out Install to Go so that our third-party installers can accept payment on their mobile devices from our DIFM customers, an added convenience for both our installers and customers. We also completed the integration of two companies acquired in fiscal 2012 that provide services to our customers – a flooring measurement company and a kitchen and bath refacing company. These acquisitions enable us to increase our control over the installation process and serve as a single point of contact for our customers, which in turn strengthens and unifies our customers home services experience under The Home Depot brand.

Our Customers. The Home Depot stores serve three primary customer groups, and we have different customer service approaches to meet their particular needs:

Do-It-Yourself ("DIY") Customers. These customers are typically home owners who purchase products and complete their own projects and installations. Our associates assist these customers with specific product and installation questions both in our stores and through online resources and other media designed to provide product and project knowledge. We also offer a variety of clinics and workshops both to impart this knowledge and to build an emotional connection with our DIY customers.

Do-It-For-Me ("DIFM") Customers. These customers are typically home owners who purchase materials and hire third parties to complete the project or installation. Our stores offer a variety of installation services targeted at DIFM customers who purchase products and installation of those products from us in our stores, online or in their homes through in-home consultations. Our installation programs include many categories, such as flooring, cabinets, countertops, water heaters, and sheds. In addition, we provide professional installation in a number of categories sold through our in-home sales programs, such as roofing, siding, windows, kitchen and bath refacing, furnaces, and central air systems.

Professional Customers. These customers are primarily professional remodelers, general contractors, repairmen, small business owners and tradesmen. We recognize the unique service needs of the professional customer and use our expertise to facilitate their buying experience. We offer a variety of special programs to these customers, including delivery and will-call services, dedicated staff, expanded credit programs, designated parking spaces close to store entrances and bulk pricing programs for both online and in-store purchases. In fiscal 2013, we launched a mobile app for our professional customers, which enables them to see multiple stores inventory at one time, provides them with direct access to our pro desks, and gives them other functionality to help them better manage their businesses. We also introduced Pro Xtra, a new loyalty program that provides our professional customers with discounts on useful business services, exclusive product offers and a purchase tracking tool to enable receipt lookup online and job tracking of purchases across all forms of payment.
In fiscal 2013, we undertook a number of projects and new developments to enhance our customers shopping experiences. Our goal is to remove complexity from the stores to allow our associates to focus on our customers.

To assist our BOPIS and BOSS customers, we rolled out a new customer service training for our associates called Customer FIRST for the Interconnected Customer, which stresses the importance of quick customer pickup of merchandise. To support this initiative, we enabled our First Phone mobile handheld devices to complete BOPIS and BOSS transactions from anywhere in the store. Now our online customers can come into the store, retrieve their merchandise and complete the transaction without having to stand in line at the cash register. During fiscal 2013, we also revamped our freight flow process to improve our in-stock rate and accuracy of our on-hand inventory count while also shifting more of the stocking activity to take place when stores are closed so as not to interfere with our customers shopping experience.
In fiscal 2013, we continued to automate our special order and installation process to improve transparency and communication and to simplify the customer experience. In addition, we are rolling out Install to Go so that our third-party installers can accept payment on their mobile devices from our DIFM customers, an added convenience for both our installers and customers. We also completed the integration of two companies acquired in fiscal 2012 that provide services to our customers – a flooring measurement company and a kitchen and bath refacing company. These acquisitions enable us to increase our control over the installation process and serve as a single point of contact for our customers, which in turn strengthens and unifies our customers home services experience under The Home Depot brand.