Home Depot ahead

A study by the market researchers Shoppers Scope reveals that in the first quarter of 2005, 33.1 per cent of American consumers went shopping in Home Depot stores, whereas the figure for Lowe's over the same period was 24.8 per cent. It is not entirely unexpected that Wal-Mart occupies the top spot: just under 40 per cent of the consumers surveyed had visited a Supercenter and 36.2 per cent a discount store. Sears notched up 18.9 per cent and Ace Hardware 12.2 per cent among the respondents.