July Retail Ratings: Home Depot Declines but Still on Top

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - August 5, 2008) - 28.5% of consumers head to Home Depot most often for their home improvement needs, hammering out the competition for the lead in this category, according to the July Retail Ratings Report from BIGresearch (http://www.bigresearch.com). However, it appears 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 report, Home Depot's share decreased over three points among all adults from July 07 (31.6%), resulting in a negative Consumer Equity Index™ (CEI)* of 90.05. It seems their biggest rival, Lowe's, has made small gains in consumer share (22.9% in Jul 08 v. 22.2% in July 07), giving them a CEI of 103.35. And although Wal-Mart's overall share is low (6% of all adults), it's up from last year (5.4%), giving the discount giant a CEI of 111.67. *CEI measures growth in share year over year. An index of 100 is flat, while an index of 105 indicates 5% growth.

"Home Depot's consumer share has declined since posting a high of 40.9% 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, with a CEI of 87.94. Lowe's CEI for this segment is 96.20, indicating a slight loss in share for them as well.

For a complimentary excerpt of the July report for Home Improvement (all consumers and those with household incomes greater than $50,000), please click the following link: http://info.bigresearch.com/.

BIGresearch's Retail Ratings Reports (RRR) are available monthly for 12 major merchandise categories. They are developed from BIGresearch's monthly Consumer Intentions & Actions (CIA) Survey of over 7,500 online interviews.

About BIGresearch

BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing solution-based insights of consumer behavior, present and future, in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media. BIGresearch conducts the monthly Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (CIA) of 7,500+ respondents and the semi-annual Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) of 15,000+ respondents. More information is available at http://www.bigresearch.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Chrissy Wissinger BIGresearch 450 West Wilson Bridge Road Suite 370 Worthington, Ohio 43085 (614) 846-0146