- BoA Board in Civil War Over Lewis' Succesor
- For the Jobless, 10% is Harder Than Before
- Week Ahead: Stocks Search for Catalyst in Quiet Week
- Outlook: Dollar to Ride Higher on Bleak Jobs Report
- Geithner: More Stimulus, Not a Bank Tax
- Windfall is Seen as Bank Bonuses are Paid in Stock
- Volatility Returns: Sign of the Bull Losing Muscle?
- Cramer: Earnings, IPOs Dominate Next Week
- Buying Fear: How to Own Volatility
- Tamminen: Why Does Oklahoma Want To Drown New York?
- Food Network, HGTV Drive Scripps Networks' Upside Surprise
- Tommy Lee, Medical Tourism and Nasty Santa, Your Emails
- U.S. Markets Gain 3% for the Week Despite 10.2% Unemployment
- Disney's 'Carol' Tests Widest 3-D Release Ever
- Stimulus II? Jobs Tax Credit=Cash For Clunkers
- Rockwell Automation Earnings: What Options Are Saying
- Gold Will Touch Higher Lows and Higher Highs: Analyst
- Is Misery Alive And Well in Your Office?
Text Size 
Home Depot is currently the worst-performing stock [HD
Loading...
()
] in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, but the warehouse-style U.S. home-improvement retailer is getting a makeover.
Attempting to woo women, Home Depot has launched a pilot program: two store locations were reworked as “Design Centers,” geared to supposedly female tastes.
The design centers feature less lumber and heavy tools, more finished furniture, design services and organizational tools. The centers have also been revamped aesthetically with homier color schemes.
A Home Depot spokesman told CNBC that men should not feel alienated by the experimental layouts: the program is not meant to appeal to women alone, but to attract couples to come and share the new “customer experience” together.
There are some good reasons for the changes. Among them is the belief that women control the lion's share of the household home improvement budget.
“About 83 cents of every dollar is either spent or influenced by women in the United States today,” advertising expert Michelle Miller told CNBC.
Also, Home Depot's rival Lowe’s [LOW
Loading...
()
] – the No. 2 U.S. home-improvement retailer by sales – has long been seen as being more friendly to women shoppers with its brighter stores.
Mitch Kaiser, retail analyst at Piper Jaffray, thinks Home Depot’s plan has potential. He told CNBC, “The bigger benefit could be if [the company] could take the learning from these stores and extend it” to its 2,200 other sales outlets.
Home Depot has an opportunity to reclaim market share if it can manage to “increase the ‘shopability’” of its vast chain, said Kaiser.
Print
Email
- Rumors abound that Oprah will leave her show to start a new network. What would this mean for daytime TV?
- A private equity specialist sponsored a stand-up comedy troupe in New York to prove that CEOs can, in fact, be funny.
- Cramer did the research and found eight stocks that lead the pack. Read on to get his top picks.
- Did Hideki Matsui’s performance make it more likely that the Yankees will pay to have him back?
- Which wines should you bring—or serve—with holiday meals this year? Ask a connoisseur.
- Two competitors in this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas have stories fit for Hollywood.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes