The Home Depot, a retailer of building materials and renovation tools, is ranked its most prominent company. Many stores and employees work to achieve more than $150 billion in revenues. The company’s production processes are ensured through effective management, procurement management, and organization of the company as a whole. Innovations that the company implements to increase revenue, improve product quality, and create a favorable image for consumers play an essential role.
Innovation processes in any organization may be associated with risks and costs because it is impossible to fully determine the nature and behavior of customers after implementing an improved product. Long-term goals are a great advantage for companies, despite the financial downfalls of short-term goals (Parker, 2022). It is justified that focusing on people in business projects is always a winning position over net profits. At Home Depot, innovation is focused on creating convenience for customers. The company is interested in long-term customer retention rather than simply making a profit in the short term. The company’s innovations are organizational, managerial, and technological.
Technological innovations have to do with introducing IT products into consumers’ households. Home Depot has created a mobile application that allows consumers to search for the necessary goods in supermarkets online with a virtual reality function and mark them on a digital map (Home Depot, 2018). The technology makes it easier for consumers to store and makes the shopping process clear, convenient, and attractive. For example, comparing Home Depot with IKEA, the second store has an advantage in the form of interesting interiors and a famous name. However, IKEA’s innovation is not related to the convenient space organization or the online catalog, so Home Depot’s strategy is more advantageous.
Home Depot’s innovation involves organizing the process of getting goods from the warehouse to the consumer. Digital shopping has increased significantly since the pandemic, and more and more companies are prioritizing this type of sales (Home Depot, 2018). Home Depot has increased the number of lockers with contactless delivery: this has attracted customers and made the delivery processes more automated. The main advantage of this innovation is to allow consumers to avoid going to the store for small items: fittings or some tools can be picked up this way (WBR Insights, n.d.). The Home Depot has now acquired The Company Store, which will advise on delivering the company’s new products (such as fabrics or linens).
Home Depot’s incremental innovation is introducing technology in a small area and testing how consumers will respond to it. Despite its large budget, the company’s investment in its e-commerce distributor network is incremental (WBR Insights, n.d.). They have led to an increase in demand that has caused Home Depot to evolve its offerings: the introduction of new merchandise, for example, was a reasonably radical but legitimate decision by the company (Parker, 2022). Major innovations, including multi-channel sales, are related to the sales process and delivery organization. It is probably relevant for Home Depot to develop not only in-store retailing but to direct most of its resources to online sales. The value of such innovations can be increased by engaging marketing strategies to notify consumers. The introduction of information dissemination systems for innovations can be increased, thus, more consumers will see the opportunities.
Thus, Home Depot specializes in reorganizing delivery processes by introducing technological, organizational, and managerial innovations. Innovations are incremental as the company tests the effectiveness of their implementation. Innovations such as online in-app navigation and contactless delivery lockers are convenient for shoppers. Home Depot is focused on them, which helps achieve long-term business goals. Their effectiveness could be higher with other innovative notification systems in place.
References
WBR Insights. (n.d.). How the Home Depot is bringing people back to stores with omnichannel innovations. eTail. Web.
Home Depot. (2018). 5 technologies changing how we shop. Corporate Home Depot. Web.
Parker, B. (2022). Home Depot SWOT analysis (2022). Business Strategy Hub. Web.