Home Depot Continues To Lose Marketshare

Columbus, OH,  Aug. 5, 2008--Home Depot's customers are starting to go elsewhere; the big box experienced substantial losses in consumer share among all adults as well as lucrative households with incomes greater than $50,000, according to the July Retail Ratings Report from BIGresearch.

According to the report, Home Depot's share decreased over three points among all adults from July 2007, from 28.5 percent to 31.6 percent.

However, Lowe's, has made small gains in consumer share, up from 22.2 percent last year to 22.9 percent this year.

"Home Depot's consumer share has declined since posting a high of 40.9 percent in July 2002," said Pam Goodfellow, senior analyst at BIGresearch.

"With the proliferation of big box stores, it appears that consumers are becoming less discriminating with their store choice. Additionally, with high gas prices, it's becoming increasingly attractive for consumers to pick up a paint brush along with groceries at one-stop-shops like Wal-Mart."

Home Depot saw a more significant loss in consumer share among adults who report a household income greater than $50,000.