Home Depot spending $60 million on handheld devices

from Retail Customer Experience, Jan 25th, 2010

DIY retailer Home Depot is spending big bucks this year to help its staffers improve the in-store experience: According to BusinessWeek, the retailer announced a budget of $60 million to be spent on handheld devices that will allow associates to check inventory levels, place telephone calls and complete the checkout process from anywhere in the store.

"If you compare us to a world-class retailer, from a technology perspective, 1991 is kind of where we are pegged," said Matt Carey, hired as Home Depot’s chief information officer in 2008 from EBay Inc. "This is the first big customer-service tool we’ve given our associates in a very long time."