...Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores Sheila Thomas Webster University Abstract Lowe’s exists to help customers improve and maintain their biggest asset- their home. We do this by meeting the changing needs of our customers by providing inspiration and support whenever and wherever they shop. Whether our customers shop in store, online, by phone, or if we’re meeting them at their home or place of business, Lowe’s is ready to help. In our more than 1,830 stores, we have implemented multiple systems to improve the customer experience, including an upgraded store information technology infrastructure that allows customers and employees to access richer product information, enjoy an endless aisle of product choices and manage their projects from inspiration to enjoyment (Lowe’s.com). Online, we are rapidly expanding our assortments to offer customers a broader range of products that can be researched and purchased online, in store or via our mobile app. MyLowe’s makes it easy for our customers to automatically track and store all purchases on their online customer profile. We’ve vowed to “Never Stop Improving” so we can satisfy the ever-changing needs of our customers (Lowe’s.com). Lowe’s operates more than 1,830 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. We serve approximately 15 million customers each week and employ more than 260,000 people (Lowe’s.com). Our stores stock 12 product categories ranging from appliances and tools, to paint, lumber and nursery...
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...Lowe’s By You April 21st, 2014 University of Phoenix ECO-365 Introduction In the United States there are two major players in the home improvement industry. The biggest in The Home Depot. The other, while smaller having 502 less stores, is still a giant of the industry (Cramer, 2013). Through the recession Lowe’s stood while well The Home Depot fumbled. Lowe’s faces competition from opponents other than just The Home Depot as it expands beyond America. As Lowe’s seeks to enter the Canadian and Australian markets it will encounter more diversity than it has experiences so far. The complexities of doing business abroad and opening stores afar will become even more apparent as their international tactics change. Despite the challenges Lowe’s should expand further to become an even bigger player both nationally and globally. Global Competition’s Impact on Lowes In 2009, Lowes had 1,710 stores found throughout Canada and United States, 16 of these found outside the United States, with three stores in Mexico that opened in 2010, allowing for their exposure to bring them to a new level of sales internationally. (“Lowes Companies”, 2012) After much research it is found five competitors could impact Lowes, the #2 home improvement dealer in the world (Racine, 2012), but on different levels. The first competition is the main competition of Lowes, Home Depot, #1 in the world since 2005, (“Lowes Companies”, 2012) is expanding its sales by bringing in more Hispanics...
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...Project 3 Rough Draft Lowe’s: Bathroom tile When people want to fix something in their house they either: do it them selves or hire a professional. Do-it-yourself workers often save more money than if they hired a professional worker. Undoubtedly, the Lowe’s company target do-it-yourself customers who are on a fixed budget because they aim to have the lowest prices. The Lowe’s Bathroom tile ad’s main technique is using an everyday-type person to appeal to a large audience. Lowe's use of an unskilled character in an everyday situation makes the ad relatable to people because most people are not professionals, and it effectively reaches everyday homeowners. Their goal is to provide the best equipment with low prices so that customers can rely on their products for small or big home improvements. When people want to redesign or fix their homes, they either stop by at the Lowe’s store or The Home Depot store for supplies and equipment. The Home Depot Company has always been a competition for Lowe’s Company ever since they gained popularity in the home improvement hardware. Even though both stores sell almost the same things, the two seem to target very different audiences. The Home Depot stores “appeal to professional customers such as contractors and tradesmen” while the Lowe’s store “appeals to a larger do-it-yourself audience”. Both stores have distinct goals, which is to attract a certain audience to make more purchases. From watching the Lowe’s bathroom tile ad, they definitely...
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...Lowe’s Home Improvement By Noe Rodriguez MKTG 305-07 American Intercontinental University Online September 23, 2012 Abstract The paper contains information regarding Lowe’s home improvement. The 4 Ps of marketing that Lowe’s uses at this time are also included in this paper; Lowe’s is considered an oligopoly as the second home improvement store in the nation, explanation on how it has dealt with Home Depot and other stores is part of this paper. Lowe’s Home Improvement Introduction Lowe’s is a great company in the fortune 500 which serves home improvement and, has been around for 60 years; it was founded in 1946 and it is considered today the largest home improvement retailer globally. Lowe’s has 1,745 stores within the USA, Mexico and Canada; it ranks number 54 in the Fortune 500 list, it also is a contributor to the consumer by contributing over $32 million dollar to different schools. (Lowe’s.com) Countries Lowe’s operates in the USA, Canada, Mexico and Australia; the expansion to Canada began in 2007 where Lowe’s open a store in Hamilton, Ontario; then in 2008 proceeded to enter the market of Monterrey, Mexico, and is building 150 stores in Australia. In the USA alone it has 1,710 stores. 4Ps of Marketing Lowe’s There are market types which are to be considered important and they are competition, monopolistic competition, monopoly, and oligopoly, because Lowe’s is constantly in competition with...
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...Professional Workplace Dilemma Paper Alicia Huff GEN 480 June 19, 2012 Alexander Dunham Professional Workplace Dilemma Paper Although everyone experiences a dilemma in the workplace at least once in their life, the most important aspect of the dilemma is to learn from it and gain some knowledge and wisdom that can be used the next time you are faced with dilemma within the workplace. Furthermore, while experiencing these dilemmas in the workplace we have to ensure that it is not a repeat deal. Meaning that you are a confrontational person and always have issues with other employees, because you gossip too much or your just plain old not doing your job and causing other people to get in trouble because they have to pick up your slack. Or maybe there is a fellow employee who is looking to get a promotion as a manager soon. Currently he or she is doing some shift leading from time to time. However, you notice that sometimes while he or she is shift leading he or she takes advantage of the little bit of authority that they have been granted for his or her eight hour shift. Now you have brought the change in the shift leader’s attitude to the attention of your managers. You have explained that there is a little abuse of authority with, yelling, name calling, snatching things from other employees hands, not giving lunch breaks, gossiping about other employees to their employee friends who happen to work there, and so forth. The managers state that they will...
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...Introduction The purpose of the paper is demonstrate all that has business models that have been learned by me in the course BUSU 630. To demonstrate the lessons learned, through different models taught, will look at Home Depot in how they are the leader of their industry. Than it will delve into how they can maintain their leadership over their major competitor Lowes; this paper will include a brief background on each company, and how they stack against each other in history’s timeline. Analysis Brief History The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank; the first stores that opened were approximately 60,000 square feet having in stock over 25,000 SKUs which made look competition look small. To the consumer they also appeared to have more product than they actually did, as they placed boxes on shelves super high give the illusion of even more product (homedepot.com). Currently Home Depot operates just over 2, 200 stores across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Virgin Islands, and Canada. Compared to their top competitor Lowe’s, Home Depot is relatively young company. Carl Buchan originally founded Lowe’s in 1946, where the first store was in North Carolina originally named the North Wilkesboro Hardware Company. The name Lowes stemmed from that fact they had the lowest prices originally as they eliminated wholesalers and dealt directly with manufacturers (lowes.com). Currently Lowes has just over 1,825 stores throughout the United States, Canada...
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...Initiative Although Lowe’s has grown to the second largest home improvement retailer worldwide, they still continue to trail Home Depot. At the center of Lowe’s success are their customer focus and their commitment to ethical behavior. However, Lowe’s 2012 Annual Report results a decline in the financial performance (Lowes.com, 2013). As a result of the decline the financial performance, Lowe’s has implemented the following strategic planning initiatives, Retail Relevance and Seamless and Simple. The Retail Relevance strategy is ensuring that Lowe’s keeps with customer love about the retail company while improving the retail operations (Lowes.com, 2013). The main focus of the Retail Relevance strategy is value improvement and product differentiation. Value Improvement enhances the core business by improving the line designs and lowering unit cost (Lowes.com, 2013). Product differentiation drives excitement in the store through better display techniques (Lowes.com, 2013). Value improvement and product differentiation will enable Lowe’s to compete more effectively by delivering better customer experience (Lowes.com, 2013). The Seamless and Simple initiative involves evolving the sales culture across all channels to include upgrading and continuously enhancing our information technology infrastructure, and allowing access to customer’s project and product status at all relevant touch points (Lowes.com, 2013). The Seamless and Simple initiative allows Lowe’s to deliver seamless...
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...Accounting/Financial Analysis Of Lowe's Inc. Lowe’s is the world’s second largest home improvement retailer and operated 952 stores in forty five states at their fiscal year ending January 30, 2004. The company is currently in the midst of the most aggressive expansion in its history with 130 new stores opened in 2003 and another 140 slated for this year. Lowe’s saw 2003 sales reach approximately $30.8 billion, due largely to their focus on the retail customers and home-improvement projects. Fifty eight years ago Lowe’s began as North Wilkesboro Hardware Company, a neighborhood hardware store fittingly named after the small town it was located in. Owned by partners H. Carl Buchan and James Lowe, this concept was more than a living, it was a vision of creating a chain of hardware stores. The concept was easy and straight forward. Lowe’s concentrated on selling only hardware, appliances and hard-to-find building materials while eliminating wholesalers and dealing directly with manufacturers to establish a reputation of offering the lowest prices. The company went public in 1961 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979 (NYSE:LOW). In 1982, Lowe’s had its first billion-dollar sales year, earning a record profit of $25 million, establishing them as an industry force. Lowe’s has posted extremely strong numbers in the past few years and the company has grown rapidly, swelling it’s store base from 500 to over 950. Sales have increased an average of 20% per year...
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...Background Lowe’s although a well-known store for home improvement now falls behind Home Depot in profit and customer preference. Lowered to second place in 2013 when the Home Depot’s profits increased 18% over the year’s earlier period; with great results in housing recovery. Lowe’s failed during that time resulting in a miniature gain of 2.5% profit and a report of the spring being unusually cold, causing returns due to the ruining of products with dampened hoses and gardening gloves. Lowe’s is also reportedly losing in the battle of customer favorites and profits, because of its customer loyalty. Lowe’s shopper deficit stands at a percentage of -10% for both male and females shoppers, whereas Home Depot gained a total of 7% in customer loyalty between both male and female. This year Lowe’s fell behind Home Depot once again in earnings by not fully taking advantage of building a stronger housing market. To regain some of its earning in the housing market, Lowe’s utilized the strategy of big-ticket sales to boost the company’s revenue, in hopes to get a stronger growth in the categories of appliances and outdoor power equipment. Lowe’s has decided to fix the revenue problem by opening two new stores in Manhattan before the end of 2015, along with that fix is the earnings in shares by a rise of $0.16 ($1.20) from last year’s share of $1.04. Goals • Provide the community with 75% - 85% of resources necessary to accomplish their project improvement goals ...
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... Analyst of Value Line Publishing, Carrie Galeotafiore, was put in charge of the company comparison and developed a comprehensive forecast model that could be used to gauge future success. Historical performance, costs of capital, current financial statements, and macroeconomic trends were all used in creating assumptive ratios and growth rates. With five year projected financials, Galeotafiore applied these projections to current company metrics in an effort to publish an accurate forecast. Before finalizing these projections, it is recommended that Value Line produce a detailed qualitative analysis to support the numbers. The purposes of this analysis are to 1) provide detailed forecast analysis for hardware giants Home Depot and Lowe’s. 2) compare these assumptions to the industries previous and potential performance 3) provide a judgment for Value Line readers for potential stock investment actions. Although these two companies have risen to the top of this industry it is recommended that investors hold their current investment position on both companies, as opposed to buy or sell. Problem Formulation As Galeotafiore prepares to release Value Line’s forecasts, there are several important factors that must be taken into consideration. Primarily, are the numbers used in the models for Home Depot, found in Exhibit 7, dependable? Can both companies be expected to achieve similar growth rates or has market saturation been reached? Next, is Galeotafiore properly...
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...innovative business approaches. Thus, in 2001, Robert Nardelli was named Chief Executive Office of the Home Depot. Nardelli introduced many new initiatives to the company such as, centralized buying, company-wide analytics and improved information systems, which were essential for the company to remain competitive. Many of his other changes, however, led to significant dissatisfaction, low morale, high turnover, reduced productivity, and general discontent among the associates that seriously derailed the company from the customer-centric approach that made the Home Depot such a success story during the Marcus and Blank era. The result was the most dramatic decrease in customer satisfaction in retailing history. In 2001, the Home Depot and Lowe’s both had customer satisfaction scores of 74 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). By 2005 however, customer satisfaction at the Home Depot fell to 67, becoming the worst performing retailer on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) that year.ii As Claus Fornell aptly stated: “Home Depot had devalued its most critical asset: the health of customer relationships”.iii In turn, this...
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...Lucius S. Lowe started Lowe’s in 1921. During the 1950’s Lowe’s opened more hardware stores, primarily in small town in the southeastern United States. Lowe’s went public in 1961 and was successful at merchandising and financial management. In the 1980’s due to competition from Home Depot, Lowe’s joined the bandwagon and joined the big-box type store. Lowe’s has a vast market, which includes, homeowners, renters, and commercial business customers. Lowe’s focuses on, meeting the group of customers needs, Creators, as they feel meeting the Creators discerning needs this will help to exceed the needs of other customers. Lowe’s wants to be the first choice among customers when it comes to home improvement. Realizing customers would like a full solution to home improvement. Lowe’s does this by partnering with the customer through the improvement process by offering inspiration, planning, completion and enjoyment. They have three goals, possibilities, support and value. Lowe’s offers a wide array of merchandise stocking 40,000 or more items, and special order items. Lowe’s installation is offered through independent contractors. Lowe's is an Authorized Service Repair Network allowing a customer to contact Lowe’s with a problem and get a solution. They also have a store credit card, which offers a five percent discount on everyday purchases and if a purchase if over $299, the customer may choose the five percent discount or no interest financing. The commercial credit...
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...In general consumers do not know what process the product they are purchasing has been thru before it gets to the store shelf to be purchased. Every company tries to put together a cost effective procedure to get the product on to the shelf and into their customers’ hands. Companies often compare business plans or business models to construct their own and often improve upon the process. Below the differences of companies like Home Depot, Lowes and any local hardware store. Each of these businesses aims to satisfy their customers by providing a wide range of products that can assist on home improvement projects or general contracting and construction. While all three businesses may have similar business models or target the same type of clientele, they each have a different Operations and Materials Management (OMM) cost. Home Depot is one of the largest hardware retail stores located in the United States. Home Depot employees run various tasks from assisting a customer with suggestions on items, to actually running heavy machinery to cut wood or metal for a customer. The employees seemed to be geared to help customers with their needs as fast as possible. The store stocks a wide variety of items for multiple different projects or repair. They also have a lower cost alternative under the Home Depot brand for many different items available in the store. By having a Home Depot brand on the shelves for a variety of items helps the OMM of the business by increasing revenue thru a...
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...Mingle Li | | Fin 470 Oct 16, 2011 Value Line Publishing There are two leaders for retail building-supply industry: Home Depot and Lowe’s, the two companies captured more than third of the total sale of the industry. Home Depot hold 22.9% market shares of the industry and Lowe’s hold 10.8% market share. Two companies are head to head competitor but focus on different market, Home Depot focused on large metropolitan areas and Lowe’s focused on rural area. Two companies both maintained online stores. Lowe’s has its own Web site: “Accent & Style” and focused on professional customer. Home Depot developed new type of retail stores in urban area and provide products and services in a compact format. Home Depot developed its first international retailer in 1994 and 10% of Home Depot international stores were built in global area at the end of 2001. Home Depot has 1,333 stores and 256,300 employees in 2001 and Lowe’s has 744 stores and 108,317 employees in the same period time. Return on equity shows how well a company uses investment funds to generate earnings growth. Generally a return on equity between 15% and 20% are considered desirable. Home Depot’s five year returns on equity all between 15% and 20% and Lowe’s five year returns on equity mostly less than 15%. The data prove Home Depot got higher net earnings than Lowe’s. Gross margin can use to determine the value of increasing sales. The higher gross margin means the company does a better job on turning...
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...case follows the performance-review and financial-statement-forecasting decisions of a Value Line analyst for the retail-building-supply industry in October 2002. The case contrasts the strong operating performance of Home Depot with the strong stock-market performance of Lowe's. Students examine a financial-ratio analysis for Home Depot that acts as a template for generating a comparable ratio analysis for Lowe's. The student ratio analysis is designed to build intuition with respect to interpreting individual ratios as well as ratio interrelationships (e.g., the DuPont framework). The historical-performance comparison suggests that investors are skeptical of the ability of Home Depot to maintain its performance trajectory, yet they project sustained improvements for Lowe's. Students are invited to scrutinize the analyst's five-year income-statement and asset-side balance-sheet forecast for Home Depot. The case expressly focuses on the asset side of the balance sheet as a preview for other cases using free-cash-flow forecasting. The Home Depot forecast exercise exposes students to the mechanics of financial-statement modeling and sensitivity analysis, which they can use in building their own forecast for Lowe's. Finally, the strong-growth assumptions for Home Depot relative to the modest-growth forecast for the industry suggest that the company can be expected to capture massive and perhaps unreasonable market share in the near term. The exercise provides a striking example of...
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