Bed Bath and Beyond's Business Risk
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is a nationwide chain of 575 retail stores selling domestics merchandise (bed linens, bath items, and kitchen textiles) and home furnishings (kitchen and tabletop items, small appliances, and basic house wares). In 2003 Bed Bath and Beyond reported annual revenues (gross profit) of approximately $1.8 billion, net income of $339 million and net sales of $4.5 billion, representing 22% growth in revenue and 32% growth in income as compared to the previous year. In addition to the 575 Bed Bath and Beyond stores, BBBY also owns 30 Harmon Stores, a discount health, and beauty aid retailer, and 24 Christmas Tree Shops, a retailer of home décor, giftware, and seasonal merchandise. Results of operations for both the Harmon Stores and the Christmas Tree Shops are included in the companies consolidated results of operations and have been since the date of acquisition.
Bed Bath and Beyond is currently the largest superstore domestics retailer, although their market share is only 4%. Competitors like Target, Wal-Mart and JC Penney offer a wider variety of merchandise such as apparel and electronics. Since 2002 growth has been a result of acquiring the Christmas Tree Shops and the Harmon Stores. In addition BBBY believes that their product offerings, customer service and advertising program have contributed to the company's financial success.
Business risk in the case of BBBY is low if you only consider that the products they sell are produced by name brand companies, so any products needing repair could be sent directly to the name brand company. By passing BBBY and that BBBY has no control over the quality of the products they sell and that there are no significant switching costs. However, their degree of operating advantage is high at 2.93 (Exhibit 1) which would indicate high business risk. If management adds fixed operating costs to their business operations, without an increase in sales, the firm's profit declines and it becomes possible for total costsvariable plus fixedto exceed sales and the firm to report a loss.
Bed Bath and Beyond Cash and Debt-to-total Capital
While BBBY's balance sheet is strong, there are risks of having too much cash. Namely the risk of not attracting or keeping investors, because of their desire to maximize their returns. When an investor sees to much cash on the balance sheet, they may question the company's ability to manage their capital structure efficiently, and therefore question their ability to maximize shareholder value.
The first chance a company is a new product may not be what the clienteles want and see it as the necessity. This risk is severe when you base your concepts for new merchandise merely on an impulse, or without conducting sufficient market investigation. Businesses that are not in touch with their clienteles are also likely to issue with the product. One issue that is often met by product designers is determining on what features must be encompassed in the product. There problem that occurs among merchandise because it has too little features and having too much. The second risk is product growth procedure may include mechanical hurdles and functioning risks that must be overcome. The corporation may be developing completely new merchandise that will deliver new and better assistance to clients. The item may also select to adapt its existing product by adding new features that will make it more interesting to the market. The third risk is a financial risk. A new product that you have established may not be able to produce sufficient demand at a price that will transport revenue for the business. The cost of production, as well as the costs of advertising the product, may not be enclosed by the selling value. The company needs first to identify what the risk is how they really will affect everyone involved. The company must do a risk assessment. This assessment will help the company be able to understand the weight of the risk will have on the company. The company will need to prioritize the risk in order of importance. The final step is to mitigate planning, implement, process motoring of the risk that will be affected. The company need create surveys for employees and for customers to see what feature should be offered with the new product. These elements are essential and will show how customer friendly it will be for customers. The company needs to make sure the customers
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).
Of the three insurance companies Sun life has the highest profit margin. Meaning it is operating more efficiently and earning more per $1 in sales than its two competitors. Whereas, RBC has the lowest profit margin of the three; which is not favourable. When it comes to days’ sales uncollected, BMO has the highest number of days. This means that it takes more days for BMO to turn its receivables into cash than its two competitors. This is unfavourable compared to RBC’s which has the lowest days’ sales uncollected.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is the fourteenth largest retailer in America, and overall the world’s second largest home improvement retailer. They are the 108th ranked corporation on the Fortune 500 top corporations list. With an impressive in store stock of 40,000 home improvement items on hand, ranging from lumber to Home décor items, plus an additional 400,000 home improvement items available through a special order program. Lowe’s provides a onetime stop for all home improvement needs, for both the Do-It-Yourselfer, and the ever-expanding market of the Commercial Business Customer.
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is a Florida-based grocery chain that has flourished since its inception in 1930. The first store opened in Winter Haven, Florida and to this day Publix has expanded to well over 1,000 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The supermarket chain now boasts over $25 billion in sales annually (Mujtaba and Johnson, 2012). To withstand the test of time and develop such a stronghold on the market, Publix has excelled in its global business community or macroenvironment, as well as its market environment or microenvironment.
As seen in Exhibit F, Best Buy has 1,055 main locations that consist of their standard large format stores, and 406 Best Buy Mobile locations that focus on mobile device sales. To supply these locations, Best Buy has 23 distribution centers located throughout the country. Comparatively, Wal-Mart has 4,625 stores stocked by 158 strategically located distribution centers. This puts Wal-Mart at a huge advantage in a couple of ways. Not only is Wal-Mart much more likely to have a store nearby any given customer, they are also better equipped to keep its products in stock at all times. This means more customers visit, and due to stocking, more customers can make the purchase they want. On an international level, Wal-Mart also exceeds Best Buy’s few hundred stores with 6,308 stores in over 11 countries. This furthers Wal-Mart’s availability to customers and puts them at an advantage over Best Buy. Additionally, the increased scale of Wal-Mart’s retail and distributive operations make them extremely competitive on pricing, a major aspect of purchase decisions for high-ticket items like consumer electronics.
| |fiscal 2007, there were 2,193 The Home Depot stores located throughout the U.S. (including the territories of |
...mer base. Home Depot, as an organization, makes it evident that based on their success, the organization’s marketing strategy marks the shift that today’s consumers respond best to. Consumers no longer purchase products, they support organization they can realte to or they feel proud to support. Home Depot is an excellent example of the type of marketing campaigns that gains the highest return by its focus on branding the company as an organization with a heart, wanting to create a happy home for every type of American.
Although Toys R Us participates in the Specialty Retail industry, it has identified its major competitors not as other specialty toy retailers, but as department and discount stores, including Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target. Within the specialty retail segment, Toys R Us competes against FAO Schwartz and K-B Toys.
My company of choice for this report is Macy 's. 'The Magic of Macy 's ', as the company advertises it, has inspired me to shop there, take advantage of their incomparable discounts and great online shopping experience. Macy 's, Inc. is one of the largest department store chains in the United States of America. Macy 's manages stores under the Macy 's and Bloomingdale 's brands. I enjoy shopping at both of the company 's store brands, Macy 's and Bloomingdales. Bloomingdales provides a more personalized experience
Big box stores are not bad, people just need to remember the local businesses need their support in order to keep helping the community these local owners are what builds strong communities so if you’re saving money buying from big box stores make sure to give back to your local businesses by spending it doing something fun locally.
By 1950, Debenhams owned 84 companies and 110 stores with result to be the largest department store group in UK. Debenhams was part of the Burton Group from 1985 to 1998, and during that period the firm was repositioned with the introduction of exclusive merchandise, and its stores increased in number. Then in 1997 the first international franchise store opened in Bahrain [1].
Subsidiaries include Sears, Roebuck and Co., Kmart, KCD IP, Shop Your Way, and MetaScale among others.
Giant has over 16 hypermarkets, superstores and supermarkets in Sabah while 1-Stop Superstore has 58 outlets. These businesses have many retail outlets and sell a variety of products at low
The company recognizes that it is subject to both market and industry risks. We believe our risks are as follows, and we are addressing each as indicated.