The marketing story goes that women still don't find Home Depot a great place to go to. Is it because of the name or is it because Home Depot is for people who are into home improvement, which is (as Tim Allen so lovably demonstrated) a very male thing? (Perhaps the only male thing still left in this rapidly equalising world.)
It's probably the latter and yet, more and more single women are setting up homes. More single women are living alone. And more single women are doing their own set of home imrpovement activities. So what can Home Depot do to attract more female customers? Should Home Depot go in for a new name? Should it extend the brand and start something targetted only at women? Simple answers: No, no. Indeed, thanks to the strong 'P' sound, 'Depot' is a very masculine word. But 'Home', unlike 'House', is a pretty feminine word. The one thing Home Depot must not do is change the name. What it can do is soften/change the logo, and maybe even the colour scheme. I think that should bring the women in. Would that drive the men out? Probably.
Come to think of it, Home Depot should forget about customising their current store for women. What it should do, if it's so keen on attracting women, is launch a new home improvement brand for women. My punt is that a combination of the high brand equity enjoyed by Home Depot and the perception of caring for the other side that will be derived from this new brand launch will make it a success story.
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