The housing crisis has been particularly tough on home improvement retailers and the largest, Home Depot, has certainly not been exempt. Back in January, the chain announced a number of changes including closing its EXPO business, eliminating 2,000 store support jobs, and slowing the pace of new store openings.
One area where Home Depot has continued to invest has been in the area of store staff. As a piece by the Financial Times points out, Home Depot has spent roughly $250 million to fund additional staff hours in stores. The company has also gone back to what made it successful in the past by hiring experts to staff departments. Since 2007, the chain has hired more than 3,000 licensed electricians and plumbers to offer expert service to customers.
"This downturn is an opportunity ... to focus our resources and attention on the things that matter, and to bring greater customer focus to the business," said Frank Blake, chairman and chief executive officer of Home Depot.
Howard Martin, head of global consumer products at Ernst & Young, told the Financial Times, "You can't just cut costs to succeed. Just doing the day-to-day cost-cutting is a major contribution, but it won't give you the answers the success stories will be based on."
Discussion Question: Will Home Depot's added focus on hiring workers with expertise in key departments give it an advantage during and after the current economic downturn?