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The IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
The IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
The IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
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CHAPTER 7- INTERNATIONAL MARKETS Lowe’s is the second largest home improvement retailer and nineteen largest retailer in the world. It is also eighth largest retail company in the United States. Lowe’s expand its stores not only in the United States but also in Canada, Mexico and Australia. As of January 31, 2014, it has 1,832 home improvement and hardware stores all over the world (Lowe’s.com, 2014). Lowe’s operates 1,789 stores across 50 states in U.S, 35 stores in Canada and 8 stores in Mexico. In 2011, Masters Home Improvement stores were launched in Australia, a joint venture between Australia's largest retailer, Woolworths and Lowe’s. Masters hardware stores are growing rapidly and currently operating over 50 stores and …show more content…
serving Australian Do-It-Yourself (DIY) customers to renovate, decorate and improve their homes. Canada Lowe’s began its international expansion in 2007 by opening stores in Canada.
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 …show more content…
2015. Lowe’s currently has about 35 big-box stores with online services in Canada. In 2012, Lowe’s made acquisition to Rona, Canadian biggest home improvement retailer but its $1.8 billion takeover offer was rejected as the bid was not in the best interest of Rona’s shareholders. Canadian Local government also resist because the province’s pension fund is a major Rona shareholder with about 12% of its shares. Rona’s shareholders want to keep the company as a Canadian company. Lowe’s continue its Canadian expansion by announcing to open three new stores in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario in November 2014. To help customers to improve and beautify their homes, Lowes offer more than 40,000 in-stock products in these stores. Mexico Lowe’s leverage its distribution network and brand recognition not only in Canada but also in Mexico. Lowe’s started to enter the Mexican market in 2010 and currently it has 8 stores in Mexico. Mexico has a $25 billion home improvement market. Recently, in October 2014, Lowe’s launches a localized e-commerce site in Mexico and it said nothing that the web will play an important role in its global growth. According to the forecast of analysts, the number of online buyers in Mexico will increase more than 100% in 2018 because of the young digital savvy residential population in Mexico. Australia Lowe’s has attempted to fuel its international growth through the partial acquisition of Woolworth in Australia.
Australia has $40 billion home improvement industry. Woolworths Limited is the largest retail company in Australia and 23rd largest retailer in the world. In a joint venture with Woolworth’s Limited, Lowe’s opened a home center in Australia under the name Masters Home Improvement (Masters) in 2011. As of 2014, there are 38 Masters Home Improvement stores in Australia and Lowe’s own about one third from the joint venture. Joint venture with Woolworths helped Lowe’s to develop competitive advantage over Australian
markets. Potential acquisition Lowe’s is currently interested in penetration into European Market and its potential acquisition target could be Kingfisher PLC. Kingfisher PLC is Europe's largest home improvement retailer with 1,130 stores in 9 countries. Lowe’s is seeking to penetrate into the largest South American country, Brazil. The estimated housing market in Brazil is about $23 billion and it is continue growing and home improvement is at the very heart of Brazil’s housing market. Lowe’s hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to begin looking into expansion opportunities in Brazil.
Established as the older company of the two, Lowe’s ranks forty-second as a Fortune 500 company. Established in 1946 as a small hardware business, Lowe’s has grown into a 40,000 product, global market enterprise that consist of 1,710 stores nationwide expanding into the countries of Canada, Mexico and Australia (Lowe's Internal, 2010) Home Depot, founded in 1978, is the fastest growing retailer in the United States. Ranked twenty-ninth as a Fortune 500 company, Home Depot continues to remain the number one do-it-yourself retail store in America. These two companies may sell products of the same nature, but comparing their Code of Ethics is their way of setting themselves apart. (Home Depot Internal, 2009)
Home Depot is the brainchild of Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank and came about after both men lost their job in the home improvement industry in 1978 (Parnell, 2014). Home Depot has acquired several smaller home improvement stores in both the U.S. and abroad through the years which enabled it to position itself as the world’s largest home improvement chain (Parnell, 2014). Home Depot focuses on the do-it-yourself segment of the market and sells sells tools, construction products and services. Marketing is a strong point for the company. They are able to maintain a competitive advantage by keeping themselves available to their customers at all times. Home Depot has been using both online and offline marketing efforts. The internet has become a very useful tool for the company and part of the reason that they are leading the market in DIY stores. Home Depot currently provides DIY videos on YouTube and Vine that cover current topics that consumers are likely to be interested in. They also have social media pages on Facebook and Twitter, where they have a huge following. They provide online communities where actual employees answer consumer’s questions and provide assistance on
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
In the early 2000’s Lowe’s was rapidly intensifying its presence nationwide. The company carried a varied assortment of home improvement products and catered to the needs of retail as well as commercial business customers. Lowe’s expanded their reach by acquiring a 41-store chain, Eagle Hardware and Garden, and engaging in a strategic alliance with HGTV to obtain a more profound existence in their market (Rouse, 2005). By 2004, Lowe’s operated almost 1,000 stores with plans to continue expansion across the nation (Rouse, 2005). The company has a core competency in helping customers meet their home improvement needs at a low price. In order to use this core competency to gain a competitive advantage, the company has focused on key functional strategies. To continue their success, Lowe’s must specifically focus on marketing, logistics, and human resource management strategies.
Lowe’s is a large chain of home improvement outlets with more than 1840 stores in North America. Their corporate slogan is ‘Never Stop Improving’
Threat of Entry. Lowe’s is the second largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. and is expanding into other countries. Their stores carry a wide variety of major brands with “40,000 products in stock, 500,000 items available online at Lowes.com and more than 500,000 more products available by Special Order” (Lowe's, 2014).
Media. The main means of mass communication regarded collectively. It comes in the form of t.v., radio, newspapers, magazines etc. The media has a way of portraying a story in a way that they want it to be seen by audiences. In other words, the media only tells us only what they want us to hear; which, may or may not be the truth or include the entire story. The media is always looking for the next best story and the competition to be the first one on the scene can be intense. A documentary by 9.14 Productions tells the story of a man and his art collection; The Barnes Foundation.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is averaging the opening of about two stores per week. This is part of an unprecedented two billion dollar store expansion, which is the most aggressive expansion in the company’s fifty-five year history; thus, magnifying Lowe’s locality and customer convenience in the United Sates home improvement marketplace. Lowe’s new superstores are currently the largest in the home improvement marketplace, averaging a retail space of about 150,000 square feet. (http://www.lowes.com)
Racism in 1912 was a very big issue and still is in our society today. W.E.B DuBois’ essay “A Mild Suggestion” portrays the idea and reality of the social inequality that took place in 1912. DuBois uses satire to offer a solution to the apparent African-American problem in the United States. Dubois writes “the colored man says ‘the next morning there would be ten million funerals, and therefore no Negro problem”’ (DuBois 93) He then goes on to state that on a chosen night, the people implement a planned mass killing of all the African-American folk, therefore solving all of their problems. The essay is able to show how effective racist language and ideas can be, as well as providing a good example of a writing style that keeps the reader engaged throughout the piece.
Second, the rapid development of the Home centers such as The Home Depot, with prices 30% less than the traditional hardware store made Black & Decker to lose market share to Makita. As per Exhibit 2 we could notice that in the home center channel that represent 25%of the trades...
Selfridges & Co. is a chain of high end department stores formed in 1906 and officially founded in 15 March 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge, in London. Taking place on the "dead end" of Oxford Street, the neoclassical building has showcased thrilling and brand new trends since its opening. During all these years, the store has been managed by a number of different groups, striving to keep the spirit of innovation firstly deployed by its founder.
Lowe’s should renew its efforts to acquire Rona since opting to enter the Canadian market as a green-field is more costly. By acquiring Rona, an already established company operating 79 big box locations and 700 smaller stores, Lowe’s would avert the costs of producing French ads and signage for Quebec customers, building French website as well as changing its weight metrics and measurement units. This will also give the company a chance to penetrate the Canadian market and strengthen its distribution network and cost-effectiveness and thus boost its operating efficiency. Moreover, gaining a chunk of
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.
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...
Woolworths has distribution centres in different geographical places in Australia. Products manufactured from different suppliers driven into distribution centre in the specified state or province. According to the ordering data, these products are assembled and distributed from distribution centres and moved forward to the prescribed retail stores.