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Over the next five years, Home Depot will spend $1.2 billion to deliver products faster as customers’ expectations for delivery speeds shift, The Wall Street Journal reports.
As part of its plan to reach 90 percent of the U.S. population in one day or less, the company is adding 170 U.S. distribution centers. These new facilities “will include dozens of direct fulfillment centers for next-day or same-day delivery of commonly ordered products,” the article reports.
Speaking at a logistics industry conference, Mark Holifield, the company’s executive vice president of supply chain and product development, say the changes are in response to customers’ changing needs.
“[Customers] expect delivery to be free, they expect it to be timely,” Holifield says. “Sometimes they want it fast and are willing to pay for that. Sometimes they want it free, and they’re willing to wait for it. We need to have the right options there.”
Online sales accounted for approximately 7 percent of Home Depot’s 2017 sales. Almost half of those purchases were picked up in-store, the article says.
Home Depot is also considering how cars and vans could streamline online deliveries, according to the article. Home Depot is also adding more flatbed trucks to deliver concrete and other building materials to professional construction crews, which account for approximately two-fifths of the company’s customer base.
