Home Depot

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in September 2013 versus September 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. In the aftermath of back-to-school season, Walmart and Staples appear to be trying to clear out all remaining school and office supplies. Staples accomplished this by improving its previous offer of $5 off with purchase of $30 to $10 off and also cut backpack prices by 50%. Walmart shifted the focus from school to office, with a “Run Your Business for Less” promotion.

Industrial and construction supplies retailer Fastenal said CEO Willard Oberton planned to resign from the 2,700 store retailer effective December 31.

The company on Friday, Nov. 7 disclosed that  Oberton notified the board of directors the prior Monday of his decision to resign. Plans call for Oberton, 56, to remain as chairman of the company and to be actively involved in strategic planning and performance measurements.

Atlanta –- In addition to obtaining data from 56 million payment cards between April and Sept. 2014, hackers who infiltrated the network of The Home Depot Inc. also obtained the email addresses of 53 million customers.   In a statement on its website, the retailer said the files containing the email addresses, which were separate from the payment card files, did not contain passwords or other sensitive information, but customers should still be on guard against phishing scams.

Atlanta -- The Home Depot announced that it has named Marc Powers executive VP, U.S. stores, effective Nov. 1, 2014. He replaces Marvin Ellison, who was recently named president and CEO designee of J.C. Penney Co.  

Veteran Home Deport operations executive Marc Powers has been elevated to the role of EVP of U.S. stores as part of an ongoing leadership transformation.

Few people know Home Depot from the ground up the way Powers does. He began his career with the company in 1986 as an hourly employee and over the course of the past 28 years served as store manager, district manager and regional vice president. He most recently served as SVP of operations for the company’s nearly 2,000 U.S. stores.

Water conservation is big business for the nation’s largest home improvement retailer who earned accolades from the Environmental Protection Agency for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense devices.

The EPA named Home Depot a 2014 WaterSense Partner of the year for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense labeled products which helped customers save an estimated 42.5 billion gallons of water and more than $358 million in water related utility costs. The retailer said the water saved is enough to supply 291,000 U.S. homes for a full year.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Kmart is the latest retailer to be hit by a payment data breach. The breach was discovered last Thursday by the chain’s information technology team, and the company immediately launched an investigation with a leading security firm, according to Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings Corp.