The Home Depot Retail Strategy Externship

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Overview

In this externship program, students will learn strategic consulting skills to analyze and evaluate challenges from non-profit organizations using consulting frameworks, in an overall effort to help them solve their important problems. Selected individuals will be paired with a specific non-profit organization and dive into their strategic problems, such as development, impact assessment, process improvements, talent engagement, communication, and strategic positioning. Throughout this externship program, professionals from PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) will provide mentorship and coaching.

The Experience

Learn about the strategy consulting process and how to help create value for a non-profit client based on their vision and mission
Research and develop an understanding of a given field
Analyze complex problems ranging from fundraising and development, stakeholder management, impact measurement, as well as use consulting frameworks to help identify problem areas and propose solutions
Learn to gather, analyze, and visualize data to inform problem areas and possible solutions
Create and deliver a compelling presentation to a non-profit client that incorporates valuable insights, trends, and recommendations

Qualifications

Ambitious undergraduate students with an interest in consulting, strategy, and non-profits. This program is for students who would like to understand the consulting profession while generating ideas to help impact non-profit organizations.

Overview

The Home Depot recognizes that the face of the nation is changing—which means their customer base is also changing. As the global leader in home improvement, it is imperative for The Home Depot to constantly explore ways to meet its customers where they are. Currently, they want to reach the next generation of home buyers and home enthusiasts. Being able to understand how The Home Depot should evolve its in-store experience to best appeal to the Millennial and GenZ audiences will be critically important to maintaining the market leadership position and how they serve customers’ needs. This will require that they reimagine their designs (store layouts/formats), shopping experience elements (including experiential), capabilities, and messaging to attract, engage, and build customer loyalty with these key segments.

This externship provides students an exciting opportunity to be part of that strategy by partnering with The Home Depot’s In-store Environment Team, which directs and manages the in-store shopping experience. This team owns the presentation of THD Stores to their customers and store associates. The work of ISE focuses on creating in-store shopping environments that are informative, compelling, and easy to shop—through engaging and informative visual signage, appealing and easy-shop product displays, and innovative and helpful technologies/capabilities to drive customer conversion, increase sales, and enable customer loyalty.

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The Experience

For this externship, you will conduct primary and secondary research to determine trends, preferences, and behavior of younger demographics and determine the best-in-class practices for creating in-store experiences for younger target segments. Those recommendations and findings will be shared with ISE leadership as THD explores the development of a THD pilot store / format.

During this Externship, you will:

Become familiar with the mission and objectives of The Home Depot and the In-store Environment Team
Learn about terms and concepts in merchandising as well as macro trends among younger generations in the home improvement sector
Conduct and catalog primary customer research to better understand the Millennial and GenZ segments
Develop a customer profile to understand the nature and the buying behavior of the targeted segment better
Conduct comparative analysis of other retailers to discover insights into best-in-class engagement of Millennial and GenZ segments
Compare other retailers' strategies to THD's current in-store communication and design strategies and identify potential gaps and opportunities
Create and deliver a compelling presentation highlighting the findings and recommendations for how THD should evolve their in-store environment to best appeal to the Millennial and GenZ segments

Qualifications

We are seeking ambitious sophomores, juniors, and seniors currently enrolled in accredited HBCUs. The strongest applicants will have demonstrated interest in business and brand strategy, operations, marketing, merchandizing, creative design, and customer insights, as well as creating immersive and compelling customer experiences.

Students studying business, communications, liberal arts, marketing, engineering, operations research, supply chain, art, and design are the best fit for this program, but it is open to all majors.

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Overview

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Externship Currently Closed
New applications are not currently being accepted.

Part-time and fully remote

This Externship is a 10-hour-per-week fully remote experience where all meetings and events are recorded

Externship starts February 6, 2023

This remote Externship will last 7 weeks.

$750 Stipend

Students who successfully complete their externships will receive their educational stipends at the end of the program.

Required Academic Standing

This Externship is open to undergraduate Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors only.

Geographical Eligibility

This Externship is open only to applicants attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

About

The Home Depot

Founded in 1978 with approximately 500,000 associates, The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement retailer. In 2,300 stores across North America, we aspire to excel in service – to our customers, associates, communities and shareholders. That’s what leadership means to us. That's The Home Depot difference. Our culture and success are built on an unwavering loyalty to eight guiding principles: creating shareholder value, entrepreneurial spirit, taking care of our people, respect for all people, doing the right thing, building strong relationships, giving back and excellent customer service. We live by a simple premise by our founders: Put customer and associates first and the rest will take care of itself.