Dive Brief:

• The company also plans to reduce “last-mile” costs by continuing to use buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) methods.

Dive Insight:

Joining a growing number of companies quickening the pace of consumer deliveries, Home Depot is striving to “create the fastest, most efficient delivery in home improvement,” according to materials from a December presentation by Mark Holifield, Home Depot’s executive vice president of supply chain.

The company has been investing in direct-to-consumer networks and e-commerce for years, “so this latest move isn’t a surprise,” wrote Haley O’Donnell, logistics technology researcher at Armstrong & Associates, in an email to Supply Chain Dive.

Two-day delivery is old hat now, and “the model of having a handful of DCs across the country won’t cut it,” O’Donnell said. “We estimate next-day requires at least 40 locations, while same-day requires 80-plus.”

Home Depot, as well as other retailers, are moving to second-tier cities, O’Donnell pointed out: “Retailers want to provide quick delivery nationwide, not just to major metros.”

The company also plans to continue making use of BOPIS, reducing last-mile costs by allowing the consumer to make the trip to a local store. However, the company does plan to start using vans and cars, besides flatbeds and box trucks, to make smaller local home deliveries.

The move is part of a direct-to-consumer push that companies besides Amazon are starting to champion, O’Donnell said. Besides providing quick delivery of smaller goods, companies are also increasing heavy-goods last-mile delivery, she said. 

“Consumers are becoming more comfortable making online purchases of everything from furniture to appliances to building materials and equipment,” she said.