Home Depot to expand e-commerce efforts
The retailer will sell a comprehensive array of products online early next year, bolstering earlier e-commerce efforts.
The retailing giant previously had said it would offer a limited array of products online by year's end.
The ramped-up effort is further realization by retailers that e-commerce is growing in importance.
"Home Depot customers will be able to check product availability online and purchase in a store, order online and pick up at a store, buy online and return a product to a store, and utilize an in-store kiosk for project information and product listings, among other options," Jeff Cohen, Home Depot group president of direct marketing, said in a statement.
"Flexibility and convenience are what [consumers] want in a shopping experience at Home Depot," he added. "Integrating our Internet strategy with our stores enables us to do a better job of meeting these expectations."
According to Bloomberg, Home Depot said it will sell "its entire catalog of products on the Internet in the first half of next year." This information came from a conference call that Cohen held with analysts and investors in concert with the company's quarterly earnings. Home Depot also announced its e-commerce strategy in a press release earlier in the day.
Home Depot also announced what it called an "expanded Internet organization." Dennis Ryan, former senior vice president of merchandising, has been appointed senior vice president for the Internet and "will oversee all aspects of Internet development," Home Depot said.