The Home Depot Canada: Renovating Strategy

The president of The Home Depot Canada (THDC), a subsidiary of U.S.-based The Home Depot Inc., had recently articulated her own vision for THDC: to become Canada's top retailer. To achieve this goal, THDC would have to continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of its customer base. The do-it-yourself segment, which THDC had nurtured, was giving way to the do-it-for-me segment. Attracting the female customer, towards whom The Home Depot Inc. had only recently turned its attention, was critical to future growth. The big-box format was approaching saturation in Canada's urban centers. The company would have to look for growth from secondary, inner city markets, requiring stores with less square footage. Did THDC need a new retailing strategy? The president wondered whether the strategy, which had been tried and tested, should be continued, tweaked or overhauled.