Home Improvement Retailers Trying to Woo Women

To appeal better to women, Home Depot has started offering Martha Stewart curtains in hues of "tilled soil," paint in "cornbread," and rugs in colors like "Wilderstein brook trout."

To make shopping simpler for women, nearly all Martha Stewart Living products carry an icon, such as a moon or a star, to help coordinate and match items to room makeovers. Of course, a more obvious part of the women's push is the Martha Stewart line, which debuted in late 2009 with patio furniture and has since expanded into cabinets, draperies, carpets and paint. Lighting, vanity tables and bathroom décor will be added this spring.

With major renovations and big-ticket items stalled by a slow housing recovery, smaller projects are the big focus for home improvement stores and women are more of the target customer.

"For years, we've always had a bad -- I don't want to say a bad reputation, it's more that people look at our business and think it is male-oriented, dominated," Gordon Erickson, the senior vice president for merchandising and décor at Home Depot, told The New York Times.

"Fifty percent of our customers are female. We need to offer her products that she wants."

Among other chains, Lowe's, which claims to have had a more women's-oriented focus as part of its founding, designs its stores with less steel and more wood tones, and "comfort zones" where customers can review paint samples or remodeling plans.

In another effort, True Value recently opened a corporate-owned store near Chicago touting wider aisles, better lighting and clear signs.

The Times article points to the challenges the DIY channel has creating a comfortable shopping environment for women. Lauren Butler, who grew up helping her parents with home improvement projects, told the Times she was pleased to see that Home Depot had added Martha Stewart items at reasonable prices. But she still often feels unwelcome in the DIY channel.

"Sometimes they seem to feel like you're just a girl, you don't know what you're doing, you need to get your husband in here," said Ms. Butler. "It's intimidating for any female to walk into a home improvement store."

(Source: Retail Wire, 02/07/11)