Home Depot has reorganized several units, leading to layoffs and the consumer direct division being absorbed into the merchandising group.
The Atlanta-based company laid off approximately 40 employees on Feb. 22, according to spokesperson Ron Defeo. Home Depot Direct was quietly folded in with the company’s merchandising department in January.
Despite Home Depot Direct’s absorption into the company’s merchandising department, which encompasses about 1,000 employees, it “is still an important retail channel in our direct-to-consumer business,” Defeo says. “By integrating Home Depot Direct into merchandising, we’ll gain synergies and leverage across all of our consumer channels.”
Home Depot has been under a lot of investor scrutiny of late, leading to some significant changes. On Feb. 12 it announced that it was exploring “strategic alternatives” for its business-to-business division, HD Supply (see “Home Depot Changes Course on HD Supply”), just weeks after Frank Blake replaced Robert Nardelli as CEO. And this past fall it folded two of its consumer catalogs, high-end furnishings title 10 Crescent Lane and upscale lighting book Paces Trading Co. (see “Home Depot Folds Two Titles”).