Internet Grocer Partners with Home Depot

TORONTO -- The Home Depot Canada, part of the world's largest home improvement retailers, today announced an online partnership with Grocery Gateway, Canada's leading consumer-direct online service, for the home delivery of hundreds of home improvement and household items to customers in the Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario.

Beginning this week, more than 200 home improvement products, ranging from light bulbs to hand tools, to carbon monoxide detectors and clothes hangers, will be available to consumers on Grocery Gateway's Web site at www.grocerygateway.com.

"This is an important venture into e-commerce for Home Depot Canada, so we wanted to partner with a proven success story like Grocery Gateway," said Annette Verschuren, president of The Home Depot Canada. "This partnership will keep our costs down because we don't have to invest in an e-commerce infrastructure or delivery system -- with Grocery Gateway we are working with the market leader."

Verschuren also explained that partnering with Grocery Gateway exposes Home Depot to a different kind of shopper -- a person who needs a few smaller items and wouldn't travel to a superstore for a roll of tape or a screwdriver. At the present time, most Home Depot shoppers are male and are shopping to complete a renovation project. Conversely, most Grocery Gateway customers are female and are shopping for consumables and products that are used on an ongoing basis.

"Selling home improvement products also makes sense for our customers," said Claude Germain, co-founder and executive vice president of Grocery Gateway. "Our goal has always been to provide our customers with more free time. If we can take a trip to Home Depot off their list, along with trips to grocery and convenience stores, then we're doing our job.

"We have the platform and the experience to help other retailers get online in a fast and reliable way," he added.

In addition to serving customers in Toronto, Grocery Gateway also serves customers in Ajax, Whitby, Aurora, Newmarket, Burlington, Oakville, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph. Grocery Gateway will add service to Barrie and Oshawa this month.

In the coming days, the Home Depot logo will appear on all Grocery Gateway delivery trucks. As well, Home Depot customers will be introduced to Grocery Gateway's service this month through product catalogues. Grocery Gateway's minimum order of $60 with a small delivery fee still applies to all orders, whether groceries or Home Depot products.
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