Home Depot

Publishing content is a unique breed of marketing and promotion. Unlike traditional means such as banner ads, live events, offers, etc., content marketing isn't directly promotional. Rather, it's about coming up with content that informs, entertains or inspires your audience. So how exactly can you use content marketing to your advantage? Below are a few best practices and examples of what you can do to take your e-commerce content marketing to the next level:
 

eBay Now is a same-day delivery service, but not for items offered on eBay.com by its millions of sellers — at least not yet. Instead, the eBay Now service is exclusively for local brick-and-mortar retailers in certain cities: San Francisco and the Peninsula, San Jose, parts of New York City, Chicago, and Dallas. While Best Buy, AutoZone and Toys"R"Us were among the first retailers to participate in eBay Now, the list of retailers now participating include the following featured stores: Home Depot; Office Depot; Walgreens; GNC; Radio Shack; Macys; Microsoft; Guitar Center; Bloomingdale's; and Urban Outfitters.

Talk about deja vu. It's been only four months since shoppers dodged elbows and raced through the aisles to capture Black Friday's best deals, but the sales are making a comeback at Wal-Mart for spring as the big-box retailer looks to take a bite out of the growing home improvement sector. On Friday, Wal-Mart is slashing prices and debuting deeper offerings in its outdoor living and lawn and garden segments. The move puts pressure on home improvement leaders Home Depot and Lowe's, which consider the critical spring selling season their version of Christmas. 

Lowe's said Wednesday it plans to hire about 25,000 seasonal employees at its U.S. stores during its spring busy season, down from 45,000 workers last year. Lowe's and peer Home Depot have been rare bright spots in the retail sector as they continue to benefit from the U.S. housing recovery. Rising home prices and improvements in home construction and new home sales have led homeowners to open their wallets for remodeling projects or big-ticket items. Last week, Home Depot said it will hire 80,000 workers in the U.S. in preparation for spring, matching last year's hiring level.

Home Depot and Lowe's are under fire for selling pesticides that some believe are partly to blame for killing billions of the nation's honeybees. Petitions with thousands of signatures are being delivered to the home-improvement retailers demanding they stop selling the pesticides along with any plants that have been treated with them. "There's a growing body of science indicating that the pesticides are a key factor in recent global bee deaths," said Lisa Archer, director of the food and technology program at the environmental group Friends of the Earth.

Home Depot said Wednesday it will hire 6,300 associates in Canada to support its spring busy season, down from last year's plan for 6,700 employees. Home Depot and peer Lowe's have been a rare bright spot in the retail sector as they continue to benefit from the U.S. housing recovery. Rising home prices and improvements in home construction and new home sales have led homeowners to open their wallets for remodeling projects or big-ticket items. The home improvement retailer said it will hire full-time, part-time and seasonal workers across its 180 Canada locations.

This past January, as I've done for the past five years or so, I trekked into New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center for the National Retail Federation's (NRF) Big Show. I was met, as I was in past years as well, by retailers from around the world. I spent time at this year's conference attending presentations and press conferences; meeting and interviewing retail industry execs in the press room; and walking the vast exhibit hall floors trying to find the "next big things" in retail technology. Here are a few of my takeaways

The Home Depot announced yesterday that it's acquired Blinds.com. Based in Houston, Blinds.com is the No. 1 online window coverings retailer in the world. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. "We're delighted to welcome the Blinds.com team into The Home Depot family," said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of The Home Depot. "The acquisition of Blinds.com positions us well for expansion in the quickly growing online window coverings market. In addition, their unique sales and service model is one we hope to learn from as we continue to create even better interconnected retail experiences for our customers."

Although the retail landscape changed dramatically in 2013, many common themes that were introduced last year will continue to shape the industry and have a greater impact throughout 2014. In particular, three major trends will play a large role in retail e-commerce strategies as we move into 2014: 

Brick-and-mortar giants like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Best Buy have been steamrolling mom-and-pop shops for decades, but e-commerce has begun to level the playing field. So why are small businesses more likely to succeed online than in brick-and-mortar when it comes to competing against goliath corporations? And why have online companies been thriving amid e-retailer giants like Amazon.com and Overstock.com? The reasons are simple and compelling.