How Does Home Depot Deliver Project Supplies So Fast?
Ben Gilbert says Home Depot gets project supplies out fast because dense store clusters and a specialty distribution network put over a million SKUs at a home, a job site, or a nearby store within two to 24 hours, covering 90% of homes in America.
California alone has 250 Home Depots, and Washington State has 48, compared with two Ikeas in Washington State. The early plan was to fill one city with stores before opening the next. Since 2009 the warehouses have split into specialties, all inside the U.S.: seven import distribution centers, 18 rapid deployment centers that break goods from manufacturers and move merchandise into stores, stocking and bulking centers that hold inventory, 17 flatbed distribution centers for massive orders from pros, and 160 market delivery operations centers that cross-dock large items such as patio furniture instead of sending them through stores.
Online orders run through 20 direct fulfillment centers started in 2014. The buildings carry far more SKUs than a store, and the online-only products ship from there.
