Home Depot sales by the numbers
The world’s largest home improvement retailer reported a modest sales gain for its most recent full year. Sales were up 4.1 percent for the 12 months ended Jan. 29.
But the Atlanta-based company’s annual sales figure still manage to set a new record—$157 billion. And growth over the past decade has been anything but modest.
As the chart above shows, the home improvement giant has doubled its sales since 2013. And since the end of 2019, it has added $47.4 billion in new business.
The company breaks down its sales in 14 major departments. Here's how those departments performed over the same 2013-2022 time period.
As the above chart reveals, the category of indoor garden has maintained its position at the top of the list in terms of sales since 2016.
(In Home Depot's classification system, the name “indoor garden” has a counter-intuitive quality, as big-ticket outdoor power equipment is a big part of the department.)
In the latest full year, sales for indoor garden and outdoor garden declined 3.6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. These two declines reflected uncooperative weather over the year. The only other department not to show an increase in 2022 was flooring, which was flat for the year.
Here's a look at the year-over-year percent change for all 14 Home Depot departments.
With those three charts showing where Home Depot has been, the company's chief financial officer provided a glimpse of where the retailing is going in 2023 in terms of sales. The two-word description of the outlook, according to Executive VP and CFO Richard McPhail, is “approximately flat.”
During the company's fourth quarter earnings call, McPhail explained how Home Depot arrived at that outlook. First, it's taken the view shared by most economists that real economic growth and consumer spending will be flat in 2023. On top of that, consumer spending is shifting from goods to services. But that pressure will be offset by an anticipated increase in market share.
“As we look forward, we will continue to invest to strengthen our position with our customers, leverage our scale and low-cost position to drive growth faster than the market,” McPhail said.
