Looking to compete with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), The Home Depot (NYSE:HD), the building and home supply giant, is taking on roughly 1,000 technology workers this year at its technology centres in Atlanta, Austin and Dallas to support its online commerce advances.
The dominance of Amazon in the retail market, known as "The Amazon Effect," is prompting big-box retailers to pour money into their online operations, and The Home Depot is no exception.
As of last December, the Home Depot announced a US$11.1bln three-year strategic investment plan which is pushing money into online shopping, supply chain and delivery systems and workforce management. A number of these moves require advanced software engineering and system engineering and this is driving the effort to hire additional technology workers.
“Our team is building some of the most advanced software anywhere to help customers shop whenever, wherever and however they want,” said Matt Carey, Home Depot’s executive vice-president and chief information officer, in a statement.
Shares in Home Depot jumped 2.5% to US$179.25 in early afternoon trade.