Carta: #HD

The Home Depot, Inc. (The Home Depot), incorporated in 1978, is a home improvement retailer. The Company operates The Home Depot stores, which are full-service, warehouse-style stores. The Home Depot stores sell an assortment of building materials, home improvement and lawn and garden products and provide a number of services. The Home Depot stores average approximately 104,000 square feet of enclosed space, with approximately 24,000 additional square feet of outside garden area. The Home Depot stores serve three primary customer groups: do-it-yourself (D-I-Y) customers, do-it-for-me (D-I-F-M) customers and professional customers. As of January 29, 2012, the Company was operating 2,252 The Home Depot stores, which included 1,974 stores in the United States, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories of the United States, Virgin Islands and Guam, 180 stores in Canada, 91 stores in Mexico and 7 stores in China. The Company also offers over 300,000 products through its Website, homedepot.com. In January 2012, the Company acquired Redbeacon.

D-I-Y customers are home owners who purchase products and complete their own projects and installations. The Company’s associates assist these customers with specific product and installation questions both in its stores and through online resources and other media designed to provide product and project knowledge. D-I-F-M customers are home owners who purchase materials themselves and hire third parties to complete the project or installation. The Home Depot’s stores offers a variety of installation services targeted at D-I-F-M customers who select and purchase products and installation of those products from it in the store. The Company’s installation programs include products, such as carpeting, flooring, cabinets, countertops and water heaters. In addition, it provides professional installation of a number of products sold through its in-home sales programs, such as roofing, siding, windows, furnaces and central air systems. Professional are primarily professional remodelers, general contractors, repairmen, small business owners and tradesmen. The Company offers a variety of special programs to these customers, including delivery and will-call services, dedicated staff and expanded credit programs.

The Buy Online, Pick-up In Store (BOPIS) allows the Company’s customers to choose how they would like to receive merchandise ordered online, and SuperSku. The Company helps its professional, D-I-Y and D-I-F-M customers finance their projects by offering private label credit products in its stores through third-party credit providers. During the fiscal year ended January 29, 2012 (fiscal 2011), approximately 2.4 million new The Home Depot private label credit accounts were opened, and during fiscal 2011, the total number of The Home Depot active account holders were approximately 10 million. Private label credit card sales accounted for approximately 22% of sales in fiscal 2011. In addition, to provide alternate payment options to its customers, in fiscal 2011 the Company launched a pilot program for its in-store customers to use PayPal. The Company digitized its vendor catalogs in fiscal 2011.

In fiscal 2011, The Home Depot introduced new products, which included lithium battery technology for power tools, Ryobi lithium ion cordless outdoor tools, Glidden DUO paint + primer, Toro gas trimmers and organic lawn care products from Vigoro. During fiscal 2011, the Company offered a number of brands across a range of departments, such as Defiant door locks, Everbilt hardware fasteners, Husky paint tools and hand tools, Hampton Bay lighting, Vigoro lawn care products, RIDGID and Ryobi power tools and Glacier Bay bath fixtures. During fiscal 2011, it also continued its partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to offer the Martha Stewart Living brand in select categories, including outdoor living, paint, cabinetry, flooring, and shelving and storage. From the Company’s Store Support Center, it maintains a global sourcing program to obtain products directly from manufacturers around the world. Its merchant team identifies and purchases products directly for its stores.

In addition, the Company has three sourcing offices located in the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dalian, and offices in Gurgaon, India; Rome, Italy; Monterrey, Mexico, and Toronto, Canada. Through the Company’s Eco Options program it has created product categories that allow consumers to identify environmentally preferred product selections in its stores. Its Eco Options program has certified over 4,000 products that meet specifications for energy efficiency, water conservation, healthy home, clean air and sustainable forestry. Through this program, it sells products, such as ENERGY STAR refrigerators, dishwashers, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, EcoSmart LED light bulbs, programmable thermostats, water heaters and other products.

The Company helps its customers save water through sales of WaterSense-labeled bath faucets, showerheads, aerators and toilets. As of January 29, 2012, it had approximately 2,000 LEED for Homes products. The Company also maintains an in-store rechargeable battery recycling program. This program is available to customers free of charge in all stores throughout the United States and Canada. In fiscal 2011, it also recycled over 130,000 lead acid batteries collected from its customers under its lead acid battery exchange program, as well as approximately 150,000 tons of cardboard through a nationwide cardboard recycling program across the Company’s United States stores.