Home Depot sets spring sales, predicts first revenue rise since 2006(70197)

Home Depot offers 2-for-1 petunias, discounts to revive sales

Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, plans to cut prices on petunias and patio furniture starting today to help meet its goal of increasing annual sales for the first time in five years.

Home Depot will increase its marketing through newspaper circulars, online promotions and other advertising to draw consumers during its busiest season, Craig Menear, executive vice president of merchandising, said in an interview yesterday. He wouldn t disclose specifics on spending.

Revenue may rise 2.5 percent this year, Home Depot said last month, marking the first increase since 2006. Price cuts in March and April on flowers and shrubs, fertilizer, lawn equipment and outdoor furniture are aimed at homeowners starting to work outside, Menear said.

We are looking to continue to drive our traffic in the stores, Menear, 52, said by telephone from Atlanta, where Home Depot is based. Things are still difficult out there for customers.

Unemployment, housing foreclosures and credit restrictions are crimping demand, he said. The number of customer transactions rose 2.1 percent to 288 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, the first increase since the fourth quarter 2007.

The retailer is marketing the discounts as Black Friday, echoing the traditional start of the U.S. holiday shopping season on the day after Thanksgiving. Price cuts start today in southern and western stores, while promotions in northern stores will begin within the next month, said Jean Niemi, a spokeswoman.

Christmas in Spring

It is our Christmas time, Menear said.

Home Depot generates its highest weekly sales from mid- March through June, he said. It may record sales of $16.1 billion in the quarter ending April 30, based on the average of 22 analysts estimates in a Bloomberg survey. A year earlier, revenue totaled $16.2 billion.

Among the discounts are two six-packs of petunias, marigolds and other annual flowers sold for the price of one, at $1.78, Niemi said. A Brinkmann gas grill regularly $379 is priced at $199, while a patio table with two chairs is $69.88, down from $165, she said.

Home Depot sets spring sales, predicts first revenue rise since 2006

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