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Home Depot names new CEO, continues shift to e-commerce

Home Depot Inc. recently named longtime company executive Craig Menear as its new CEO, effective Nov. 1, according to The Wall Street Journal.

August 27, 2014

Home Depot Inc. recently named longtime company executive Craig Menear as its new CEO, effective Nov. 1, according to The Wall Street Journal. Menear will oversee the country's fourth-largest retailer by revenue as it shifts from building new brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. to focusing on online sales, The Journal said.

The chain is shifting its strategy to e-commerce to reflect changing cunsumer buying habits, according to The Journal:

To adapt, Home Depot is selling everything from barbecue grills and patio sets to actual bricks and mortar over the Internet, which now accounts for more than 4 percent of its sales.

"We need to transform Home Depot to allow customers to shop when, where and how they want to," Mr. Menear said in an April interview at the company's Atlanta headquarters.

This year, the company plans $1.5 billion in capital expenditures, "tilting investments more toward interconnected retail and technology as we try to meet the needs of our changing customers," chief financial officer Carol Tome said in an interview this week.

After decades of building dozens of stores a year, the company has brought new store openings in the U.S. to a halt. It is also reallocating store space to growing categories like appliances and cleaning supplies.

His predecessor, Frank Blake, will remain chairman and Menear will join the company's board.