You gotta hand it to Home Depot (NYSE:HD). Big as the company is, it doesn't waste time in reacting when it sees either an opportunity or a threat to its business. Take the impending merger between Kmart (NASDAQ:KMRT) and Sears (NYSE:S), for example. Industry analysts such as our own Rich Duprey have speculated on what new retailing animal might emerge from the crossbreeding of the recently bankrupt discounter and the department store stalwart. Blue-light specials on lawn mowers, perchance? Or more likely, the expansion of Sears' dominance in the realm of home appliance retailing --- dishwashers, ovens, and refrigerators -- to Kmart's 1,500-strong chain of stores, nearly doubling Sears' points of sale.
Faced with that threat to its own rapidly growing market share in this sphere, Home Depot counterpunched Sears this morning with its own announcement of a foray into one of Sears' fortes -- selling home appliances on the Internet. As of today, Home Depot is ramping up its collection of items for sale on the Internet to more than 1,800, with big-ticket items such as appliances coming front and center.
Of course, while it takes two to tango, the market for long-distance selling of major appliances is more of a line dance. Sears and Home Depot aren't the only players here by a long shot. For instance, Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) has sold home appliances online for ages (in Internet time, at least). Manufacturers such as General Electric (NYSE:GE) also sell their wares direct and online. Why, even home warranty providers, such as the American Home Shield unit of Motley Fool Income Investor pick ServiceMaster (NYSE:SVM), sell appliances over the phone.
Granted, it's been five years since Internet retailer extraordinaire (and another Stock Advisor pick) Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced its own move into selling home improvement gear on the Web. And that hasn't worked out particularly well for Amazon so far. But where the erstwhile bookseller hasn't succeeded, a company like Home Depot -- with its breadth of home improvement knowledge, its extensive brick-and-mortar base, and its stable of tradesmen experienced in the installation of big gadgets -- may well fare better.
For more Foolish coverage of the big box seller of things that come in big boxes, read:
Fool contributor Rich Smith owns no shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
