Industry analysis Home Depot operates in the home improvement retail industry that comprises of retailer that sell appliances, lumber, building material, kitten fittings and other home improvement products aimed at improving existing structures. Companies functioning in the home improvement industry buy products from retailer and manufacturer based all over the world, and then put those products for sale on the market to three types of buyers, generally characterized as: do-it-for-me, do-it-yourself, and professional customers. The home improvement retail industry is well established industry and is highly attractive and there is high level of price competition among the key players of the industry as the products lines are all the same. The industry market size in the US is estimated at $303 billion in fiscal 2014, $221 billion attributed to consumer market (private home owners) and the remaining to the professional market …show more content…
There are a number of smaller players but lack the public existence and retail footprint of their larger counterparts. With such high levels of market absorption, both HD and LOW enjoy high bargaining power with suppliers of goods. The two companies vary significantly in terms of the strategies they employ to compel consumer traffic. Home Depot centre of attention is customer service, while Lowe’s offers discounts to improve sales. Home Depot has determined on customer service as a driver to grow customer traffic and sales, Lowe has battled mainly on the basis of lower prices. Home Depot has a status for lesser prices and more pro-friendly impression where Lowe’s is trying to capture the traditional do-it-yourself customer by trying to appeal the female customer, who the company declares, is responsible for eighty percent of home improvement
Lowe’s employs more than 260,000 people in more than 1830 stores; these employees are trained to provide exceptional customer service as well as receiving up-to-date product knowledge to assist customers with their improvement needs. In addition, Lowe’s has upgraded store information technology infrastructure to assist employees in accessing product data faster and easier. This is accomplished by providing the sales team with computers that have Internet access, and Ipad’s and Iphone’s loaded with specialized apps (Lowes, 2014).
Home Depot’s slogan, “More saving. More Doing.”, promotes Home Depot’s marketing strategy with more appeal for customers with less money to spend. Home Depot carries major brands but also carries Home Depot exclusives and proprietary brands which save customers money. Home Depot carries major brands like Dewalt, Hampton Bay, Homelite, and Martha Stewart Living. They also carry proprietary brands such as Ryobi, Rigid, Behr, LG and Toro.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) is a publicly traded company that trades on the NASDAQ, (Bed Bath...Common, 2016), and an “interesting proposition for investors these days because its stock price is right around half of its March 2014 closing peak of $80.48 per share - but the company has been engaging in stock buybacks and has started to pay a quarterly dividend” (Lara, 2016). A small annual dividend for this slow growth company (BBBY, 2016) of a mere $.50 with a current yield of 1.12%, plus a special dividend of $0.125 (Bed Bath...Common, 2016) yet, well below the
Lowe’s is leading the way by example. Lowe’s believes that creating long-term partnerships is a win-win situation for both sides of the deal. Lowe’s is the second largest home appliance retailer in the country, by working hand in hand for twenty-six years with Whirlpool, the largest marketer and manufacturer of home appliances. Whirlpool and Lowe’s have worked together to become unmatched in bringing their customers a high quality product and a very low competitive price. Through a tremendous logistical effort Whirlpool and Lowe’s have created a one of a kind Innovation Tour. A semi-trailer transforms itself into a functioning kitchen to show customers cutting edge appliances that will be available at Lowe’s in the future from Whirlpool and Kitchen Aid. As Lowe’s motto states, Lowe’s truly is “Improving Home Improvement”. (http://www.businesswire.com/)
“To make your company competitive and attractive to job candidates you have to offer an exceptional total benefits package” (Obringer, 2003, para.1). This is especially true in the current economic environment. The employee’s needs are changing so businesses are having to rethink their compensation and benefits packages. The home improvement industry is no exception to this phenomenon. Companies like Ace Hardware, Lowes Home Improvement, and The Home Depot have had to adapt their benefits packages to stay competitive in an industry with an ever-changing employee demographic. The following pages will include a comparison of all the benefits offered by Ace Hardware, Lowes Home Improvement, and The Home Depot, as well as, a glimpse into whether or not their strategies seem to have been successful. The majority of the benefits are available to all employees, but some of them are only available to corporate team members. To make sure that all of the available benefits are covered and for comparisons sake, the focus of this report will be on the corporate level of benefits. Also due to the wide salary ranges between low level employees and corporate employees, this report will not focus on salaries.
Some 400,000 specialty retail stores operate in the US with combined annual sales of $350 billion
Wal-Mart initially began its operations in 1945, when Sam Walton leased a ‘Ben Franklin’ franchise variety store in Newport, Arkansas. After relocating to Rogers, Arkansas in the early 1950s, Sam Walton’s ‘Ben Franklin’ became ‘Walton’s 5 & 10’. By 1962, Walton found himself the chain owner of 11 different Walton’s stores across Arkansas. He then decided to rename the chain ‘Wal-Mart’, after himself. On October 31, 1969, after further expansion across the state, the chain was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Three years later, Wal-Mart was approved and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
External Analysis Macroenviorment Analysis: · Economic- The home improvement industry is below their normal state with the present economic status. Consumers are putting their wants such as adding new appliances or redoing their bathroom on hold. Construction companies are also in a slump; with the building of new homes on a downward slope the large orders of construction companies are not being made · Technological- Technological advances have played a huge role in the home improvement industry with advancements in appliances and power tools.
Canada has $40 billion home improvement market which is about 6% the size of the U.S home improvement market. The Canadian home improvement retail sector had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% from 2009 to 2013. Lowe’s considered entering Canada as its first step in global expansion because of the nation’s consistent economic growth over the past decade lead to robust housing market and spending for home renovation has grown across the country. Moreover, natural catastrophic events were occurred in Canada in 2013, storms in Toronto and Calgary led to flooded basements and completely damaged houses across the cities. Analysts estimated these damaging floods could increase renovation spending in the following year of 2014 and
...re of home-market demand for the industry’s product or service, refers to the degree of the demand of the market and identification of demanding markets and customers.
The purpose of this presentation is to provide a comparative analysis of business activities of two well-known representatives of the US retail industry, Target and Walmart. My research is focused on a business strategy of these largest and most experienced American merchandising companies; particularly, on their activities in Canada. Based on the data collected from the various sources, I would like to detect, analyze, and demonstrate the obvious causes that have lead to a catastrophic failure of Target in its unsuccessful attempt to win a Canadian market.
Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in Atlanta, Georgia. With their store, Marcus and Blank revolutionized the do-it-yourself home improvement market in the United States. Home Depot began as a very basic store, operated in a large, no-frills warehouse. Home Depot carries over 35,000 products, with national brand names along with the Home Depot brand. At the start, Home Depot was able to offer exceptional customer service with knowledgeable employees who could guide customers through home renovation projects. Since its opening, Home Depot has experienced incredible growth, and today is North America's second largest retailer, and the largest home improvement retailer. Internationally, Home Depot has expanded into Canada, Mexico, and is beginning to operate stores in China. Home Depot's competition includes Sears, Ace Hardware and Lowes (the main competitor).
In 2016, Bed Bath & Beyond had the largest market share of any home goods retailer in the country with over ten billion dollars in sales (Statista, 2017). The next closest in sales was Ikea with just under seven billion in sales (Statista, 2017). Bed Bath & Beyond appears to be thriving in some areas; they have an efficient store set-up, a variety of products that appeal to their multiple target markets, and the supplier network to keep up with any fluctuation in demand (Zacks Equity Research, 2017). However, there is a multitude of options that Bed Bath & Beyond can use to improve their sales. For example, they could begin by assessing their products and inventory since the economies of the countries that Bed Bath & Beyond has stores in are
Home Depot, well-known by its big, bright orange box logo, is a retailor of numerous popular brands of construction and home improvement products. Reach the Top® manufactures a popular brand of ladders and scaffolding already sold by Home Depot, and...
Best Buy opened it’s doors in 1966 by the name of “Sound of Music”, it wasn’t until 1986 that it proceeded to change it’s name to what it is recognized today. Best Buy is the top retailer in the nation’s (USA) consumer electronic retail industry. What makes Best Buy unique is that they sell electronics and appliances used for home and office, they provide customer service and business support through their Geek Squad Technical Support System, and they offer major tech brands and their products such as Apple and Windows in house. According to The New York Times, the computer and electronics industry consists of companies engaged in the retailing of computers and peripherals, consumer electronics and other technology products. The industry includes household appliances, audio and video equipment, consumer software, digital cameras, cell phones and components and other electronic goods.” Like many top leaders, Best Buy has not been immune to issues in regards to maintaining its status in the market. Some of the issues the company faces include, loss in stock value, loosing the retention of it’s customers, and being out-competed by e-commerce companies in the same industry such as, Amazon. All of this can be classified as a marketing problem Best Buy faces.