Marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot)

Marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot)

This article offers a detailed assessment of the marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot). The Home Depot is an American company. It is one of the biggest home improvement retailers in the world. It has devised and implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy which is one of the key factors behind its impressive success.

Products of Home Depot

Home Depot offers a wide variety of products that include but not limited to lumber, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, decor products, power tools, and building materials. It also provides services such as home improvement installation and equipment rental.

Home Depot targets two main types of customers i.e. individual DIY customers, professional contractors. It also targets ‘Do-It-For-Me’ customers for its installation services (Home Depot, 2022). Its products include the most basic and the most advanced ones in the industry. However, some analysts argue that not all its products have best quality. Many of them are of substandard and not visually appealing.

Pricing strategies of Home Depot

Pricing is an important component of this marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot). Home Depot usually has everyday low pricing policy. It is also famous for its ‘price matching’ policy. If a customer finds a lower price for an identical product from a local retailer’s store or website, Home Depot then matches the price and indeed beat it by 10% (Home Depot, 2022).

This ‘price matching’ policy is very effective as it usually encourages customers with incentives to purchase more items from Home Depot. However, not many customers know about this policy, showing a lack of communication between the retailer and the customers.

Place/Distribution strategies of Home Depot

Home Depot has around 2,300 stores in the USA, Mexico, and Canada and has over 90 supply chain facilities (Home Depot, 2022). It also sells products online. However, cracks in its place strategy were detected in the past with its failure in countries such as China and Peru. It also attempted to enter the UK market; however, could not succeed. Likewise, supply chain costs, particularly for shipping and materials have gone up recently which will squeeze its profits (Rocco et al, 2022).

Promotional strategies of Home Depot

Promotion is a very important topic of discussion in this marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot). Home Depot is known to offer special discounts through different coupons. It also has a loyalty programme called Pro Extra which provides professional contractors with some exclusive benefits.

Home Depot uses social media platforms to engage with its customers. It has a nice website, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Twitter account. It also uses email marketing to send out promotional emails to the customers.

Home Depot is also known for its ‘home improvement show’. The ‘home improvement show’ is a type of program that is broadcast on several channels. Its purpose is to help customers find solutions to their home improvement problems. It has thousands of loyal viewers who tune in to the show regularly. Certainly, it has found a good way to keep its customers connected with it with creative and useful shows.

Home Depot runs regular tv and online commercials as well. According to various sources, it spends over $100 million a year on ads in various platforms. However, it is worth mentioning that some of its ads have come under criticism. Hsu and Tracy (2021) reports that its shareholders have filed resolutions to commission independent investigation to examine whether some of the ads were used to spread hatred and misinformation.

People of Home Depot

There are approximately 500,000 associates who work with Home Depot. The company is known for hiring people from the local communities. It is also known for the extensive training that it gives to its employees.

Home Depot offers its associates a variety of incentives. For instance, its offers retirement savings plan, college saving plans, scholarships and tuition reimbursement, tutoring discounts, gym, food, and electronics discounts, parental leave, and adoption support (Home Depot, 2022).

However, Graziosi (2022) reports that a Home Depot employee revealed in a TikTok post that she has to sleep in her car and shower at Planet Fitness even though she works full time. This has generated mixed reactions from viewers with many questioning the salary packages offered by U.S retailers.

Process strategies of Home Depot

Home Depot’s customer support process is very effective. Its customer care representatives are available 24/7 who can be reached by LiveChat. This means that customers can contact the representatives and ask any question immediately. Customers can also reach them via phone calls 7 days a week; however, calls need be made between 6am and 2am.

Physical environment of Home Depot

The physical environment is the last component of this marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot). It is one of the most successful ways through which the retailer has connected with its customers. The stores are designed to look like living rooms. This means that customers feel relaxed while in the stores and are likely to buy items.

A typical Home Depot store comprises of around 105,000 square feet of indoor retail space. Store designs and layouts are very attractive. The official website looks very nice as well. However, access to most pages of the website is denied when browsed from outside USA, Canada, and Mexico. This bars academic researchers from getting valuable information about the company which could have been worked as free word of mouth marketing.

Summary of Marketing mix of Home Depot

Home Depot has devised an effective marketing strategy with a combination of products, affordable pricing policies, place/distribution channels, and promotional, people, and process strategies. Its physical environment is very good as well which often make customers excited about home improvement. However, there are still some areas that need to be re-evaluated.

Hope you like this ‘Marketing mix of Home Depot (7Ps of Home Depot). Please share the article link on social media to support our work. You may also like reading:

PESTEL analysis of the grocery and supermarket (retail) industry

Last update: 18 July 2022

References:

Graziosi, G. (2022) Home Depot employee reveals how she’s forced to live in her car, available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/home-depot-employee-housing-viral-tiktok-b2001159.html (accessed 16 July 2022)

Home Depot (2022) About us, available at: https://corporate.homedepot.com/about (accessed 18 July 2022)

Hsu, T., Tracy, M. (2021) Investors Push Home Depot and Omnicom to steer ads from misinformation, available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/business/media/investors-push-home-depot-and-omnicom-to-steer-ads-from-misinformation.html (accessed 10 July 2022)

Rocco, M. White, A, & Provan, S. (2022) Home Depot warns supply chain costs will hit profit margins, available at: https://www.ft.com/content/9170ea5d-f605-4975-bf41-c5b32514e132 (accessed 17 July 2022)

Author: Joe David

Joe David has years of teaching experience both in the UK and abroad. He writes regularly online on a variety of topics. He has a keen interest in business, hospitality, and tourism management. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management.