Masters Home Improvement
1. Overview of current situation
Masters Home Improvement is an Australian home improvement chain that started the market in 2011, and it is managed by the joint venture between Woolworths Limited and Lowe’s, USA in order to create an opportunity for Woolworths Limited to expand its market. Bunnings is the market leader in this industry who gains 64% of total market share, followed by Mitre 10 with 13.0%, and Masters with 8.0% of market share (The Australian, 2016). The company’s revenue continuous increased since they started the business in 2011 to 2014, they gained total revenue around $1527 million in 2014 (Woolworths, 2015) but the company still got loss from their operation expenses. Moreover, the sales dropped
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The salient factor is the natural environment in terms of misunderstanding of the season. Masters ties its products with Lowes’ USA, and they launch the same products at the same period. On the other hand, they forgot regardless the seasons are different in these two countries. Another factor is the sociocultural environment, Masters works with the wrong target consumers who are female buyers by giving off a “premium” vibe because female is the man behind the decision making (Jaclyn, 2012), on the contrast, they are not usually the buyers. As a result, these two factors influence on the company revenue and consumer satisfaction, so Masters should understand the products in order to respond customer needs and create marketing strategies to the right …show more content…
According to Government of South Australia (2014), the right location is influenced to the successful business in particular retail businesses, but the wrong location determination is tough for the business growth. In 2015, Masters has 56 stores around Australia (Woolworths, 2015), and most of them were set up nearby its competitor who is Bunnings that make more difficult in the market competition. For example, there are 6 Masters stores in Brisbane; Everton Park, Tingalpa, Parkinson, Richlands, Bundamda and Springfield areas, and there are Bunnings store in the same areas where are not far away from Masters stores. Furthermore, the wrong location decision is affected to the demographic problem which is the target customers. Masters sets up its stores in the second rate areas which are the growth-belt suburbs, and consumers who live in the areas do not have the spending power that influence to the company
Considering 4 elements of the marketing mix and the case discussion of the general trends in the industry, it seems that MCB is experiencing problem with place and determining its target market. The case provides many examples of the company's difficulties in gaining more retail locations, maintaining sufficient inventory level, and, the most important, improper positioning of its product, which impeded the MCB to reach its potential customers.
b. They meet the needs of their target market by building their stores in closer proximity.
For this analysis we have chosen Home Depot Incorporated a home improvement retailer. It primary clients are professional “professional remodelers, general contractors, repairmen, small business owners, and tradesmen” (Yahoo Finance, 2015). In addition Home Depot sub contracts installations to third parties (Yahoo Finance, 2015). Home Depot has 2,270 stores in the US and international stores located in Mexico and Canada (Yahoo Finance 2015).
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
Mr. Torbett, in the case about the Home Builders Institute (HBI), I noticed some key problems related to the Structural, Human Resources, Political and Symbolic frames. I will go through each of these problems in order to identify which frame it relates to, what the problem is, why it was caused, a recommendation for fixing the problem and any possible ramifications. This will provide some potential future step as you progress in your journey at HBI.
Opening its doors for the first time in 1946, Lowe’s is now the second largest home improvement chain in the world, operating over 1,800 stores in the United States, generating $56.2 billion in sales and $2.6 billion in net income for 2014 (Lowes Newsroom, 2015). Employing around 265,000 personal making them one of the top employers in the nation, there is no question that Lowe’s must be doing something right. According to Lowes Newsroom, “Lowe’s professional customers represent approximately 30 percent of total sales, approximately 16 million retail and professional customers are served each week. (2015, para 3) “Never Stop Improving”, is Lowe’s slogan; encouraging employees and customers to work together to maximize their in store
Conclusion: Given the current economic status the home improvement industry is in a low spot with sales. With the decrease in building new homes we have to focus mainly on home improvements. The three strong points we have against existing rivalries are our great locations, quantity of quality products, and convenient customer service. With these great qualities we can move ahead and stay ahead of our competitors during these times.
1) For a channel to succeed four location decision factors are considered; economic conditions, competition, the strategic fit, and the cost of operations. Stores need ...
Managers in the more profitable regions were achieving/surpassing their sales goals, while managers in the less active regions were unable to achieve their sales goals. These underperforming managers were penalized by a system that they neither fostered nor developed. In all likelihood, the underperforming managers were disincentivized by unrealistic budgetary goals for their region, needing further assurances from corporate that their vision could be achieved. All retail stores suffered from a lack of product, destroying the potential sales that they could have gained. The stores in less popular/populated regions may have garnered a reputation for being unreliable and continually out of stock.
The opening of stores internationally creates a bigger market share for the business to entrée, one that local and domestic competitors might not yet of entered. However, taking the business global has also opened the door for new customers for the business to aim and target their products at according the cultural and seasonal pretences, increasing the awareness and loyalty of the business.
Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., McDaniel, C. D., & Wardlow, D. L. (2009). Essentials of marketing (6th ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub..
From marketing perspective, LOCATION for the fast food service to the potential customers is most important according to Maritz Marketing Research. The recent study showed the location has to be convenient. The analysis said that adults under the age of 65 prefer convenient location for their fast food. They need their service to be in “an arm distanced”, which means the convenient location helps customers save their time, traveling cost. For the fast food chain companies, locating the branches to reach customer becomes a positioning strategy.
The food and staples retailing is an increasingly competitive industry. The market giants (competitors) are Coles (owned by Wesfarmers) which has 741 stores across Australia and plans to add 70 m...
All items are hand-picked and have been established for 3 years. Mr Price will need to combat this threat by closing the gap where potential customers are escaping by merging businesses, or creating a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is achieved by having lower prices, better quality, customer’s loyalty or best service. (Retief, 2015)
Mr Price Group can implement the growth strategy to expand in the current market and gain a larger market share. This can be done by reallocating resources such as spreading out stores more to reach more customers instead of having many stores close together. This will ensure that more customers are able to reach a Mr Price store and purchase from them. They