FORT MOORE—Army & Air Force Exchange Service Director/CEO Tom Shull gave The Home Depot Chair, President and CEO Ted Decker an up-close look at the retailers’ first-of-its-kind collaboration to build a stronger benefit for the military community through major appliance offerings.
The partnership is the first of its kind for both retailers and allows The Home Depot to serve as a traditional wholesale distributor.
“The collaboration with The Home Depot brings a new level of service to military families,” Shull told Decker as they visited Fort Moore’s Home Depot-branded Appliance Center showroom June 15. “Military families move often, and as a result, purchasing appliances is vital to their Quality of Life. Working with The Home Depot significantly expands the Exchange’s capabilities in making life better for those who serve—especially as they change duty stations.”
Along with Shull, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer Karen Cardin, Senior Vice President of Merchandising Eric Sidman and Hardlines Vice President Dan Koglin gave The Home Depot merchandising, marketing and store experience leaders a tour of Fort Moore’s showroom while discussing early successes and growth opportunities.
A display of The Home Depot’s signature orange 5-gallon buckets—complete with military resale logos—greets Fort Moore shoppers at the PX entrance. From the front of the store, The Home Depot Appliance Center’s branding shines like a beacon, beckoning shoppers to check out the new showroom filled with appliances with major brands at varying price points.
“It’s beautiful—just beautiful,” Decker said of Fort Moore’s showroom. “The Exchange represents our brand so well.”
What the shoppers see
In May, the Exchange began selling all major appliances in CONUS, Oahu and Puerto Rico through The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer. All orders are completed from ShopMyExchange.com.
To shop all major appliances, authorized customers visit ShopMyExchange.com and are transferred seamlessly to a microsite, which looks and feels like The Home Depot’s website, showing real-time pricing, product availability and delivery scheduling.
All purchases are tax-free with 1% discount on top of The Home Depot’s lowest price. Once customers are ready to check out, they are transitioned back to ShopMyExchange.com, where they can use their MILITARY STAR card and receive six-month 0% interest financing. Orders are fulfilled by The Home Depot, and purchases of more than $396 are delivered and installed by The Home Depot for free.
Showrooms began launching at PXs and BXs this spring, including at Fort Moore, with roughly 60 scheduled to be complete by October. The showrooms have refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, dryers and more from GE, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool and other major brands.
Prominent, eye-catching branding from The Home Depot heralds the partnership. For shoppers who want to complete their purchases on-site, QR codes on signing take shoppers directly to ShopMyExchange.com to browse the full selection, complete orders and schedule delivery.
Exchange stores can help customers with purchases through mobile point of sale associate assistance. In June, Fort Moore debuted the mobile technology, which allows store associates to process orders in-store while receiving credit for the sale with no inventory investment. All orders—even those made in showrooms—are completed through ShopMyExchange.com.
For stores that haven’t yet opened their showrooms, point-of-purchase signing, including QR codes, allows shoppers to access the online microsite to order appliances.
All shoppers with ShopMyExchange.com privileges—including all honorably discharged Veterans and Department of Defense/Coast Guard civilian retirees— can shop via The Home Depot collaboration.
Early success
Since the May 8 launch, nearly 20,000 major appliance orders have been placed.
“Discussions with The Home Depot started in early 2021,” Koglin said. “Launching the project was truly an Exchange-wide effort. Teams from the Merchandising, IT, FA and Customer Experience directorates worked together to make this happen. Seeing it finally come together, and with such success, has been a testament to the teams’ dedication.”
Other early wins include:
- More than 200 ShopMyExchange.com accounts created.
- The ability for shoppers to buy GE appliances, a brand that was previously unavailable. GE now represents 24% of Exchange appliance sales. (LG has the most, with 26% of Exchange sales.)
- Half of the orders being completed with the MILITARY STAR card.
- An Exchange customer attach rate for protection plans of 30%.
- Orders being received from 48 of 49 eligible states.
- Creating a shopping experience that looks and feels like customers are shopping at The Home Depot’s website.
- Expediating the Exchange’s mobile point of sale capabilities, which, in the future, will expand to other categories on ShopMyExchange.com.
The future
Shull and Decker said the retailers are exploring opportunities to expand the collaboration. Growing the assortment to include grills, patio furniture, mowers, hardware, storage and power tools is being discussed.
“The Exchange is looking forward to bringing the best products and service to those who deserve it the most,” Shull said. “It’s an honor to work with The Home Depot—a retailer that is committed to the military community—on making life better for all who serve and have served.”
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