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More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of the Internet on shopping
The impact of online shopping on consumers
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There are many opportunities available for Lowe’s Company. One current opportunity for Lowe’s is the expansion of the company across the globe. This opportunity is currently in process with stores being built in Australia. This expansion will open more ground for Lowe’s to sell and service its products. Currently there are only stores in America, Mexico, and Canada.
Another opportunity for Lowe’s is with constant new appliances. With each year, the companies that supply Lowe’s come out with new, innovative products. This gives Lowe’s a constantly updated and new inventory. This looks good on the store floors because there are always new shiny appliances for customers to look at and compare.
Lowe’s has a great opportunity with its free shipping
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with installation and no hassle return policy. These new features will give Lowe’s better customer relationships. This can also play into more marketing for Lowe’s. Lowe’s has the option to widely advertise the new help they offer when customers buy from Lowe’s. These features also give Lowe’s a competitive advantage over other appliance retailers. Lowe’s is starting a promotional program called the Lowe’s Innovation Lab.
This lab plays into the current technology with AR/VR tools and robotics. This opportunity for Lowe’s attract consumers with the wonders of the future through new ideas. The Innovation Lab also opens the use of the webpage for Lowe’s. Lowe’s uses the website for the Innovation Lab to connect with social media.
Social media is a new and fast growing opportunity for companies. Social media allows companies to expand their target market to almost everyone. Lowe’s can use this opportunity to tap into customers without much effort. Social media is also a cost-efficient option for Lowe’s to expand its customer base.
Lowe’s has been around a long time. They have weaknesses but so many more strengths. Lowe’s is one of the oldest and largest big box retailers. They are the second largest home improvement retailer in the world next to Home Depot. Lowe’s key strengths are its size, market share and distribution network. Lowe’s also knows how to adapt to the needs of time. More strengths of Lowe’s lie in the customer service and store layout. Lowe’s is ranked second in customer satisfaction with Home Depot being last. They spend around 650 million dollars to upgrade their stores and make sure they are set up so that the customers can find everything they need easily. As Lowe’s continues to improve their stores they will continue to gain more loyal
customers. Conclusion: People only want to know what their strengths are because they like to hear good things. However, it is when they know their weakness that they can improve and become better. Companies are different, they do like to know that they are on the right track but they also want to know when they are off track as well. Finding out where their weaknesses are will allow them to understand what could be a potential threat. The biggest threat challenging Lowe’s would be their major competition. Home Depot (HD), their competitor, has an advantage because they have buying power. HD can purchase in bulk allowing the company to sell for less. However, if Lowe’s can provide better service, innovative ways to design do-it-yourself projects, and a great customer experience they will be able climb above the competition. People don’t just want good prices they want great customer service. This is where Lowe’s has the competitive edge over Home Depot. Overall, Lowe’s is a great company and has many strengths that will allow them to grow.
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.
• Request a Lowe’s - This is just as simple as it sounds! Do you want a new Lowe’s store somewhere? Just ask! A form requests your name and contact information, comments and asks if you would like to be contacted. I don’t know of another retailer who does this but what a great way to have the market place tell you where there is a need for your business to
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).
Home Depot was started in 1978 as a one-stop shopping for do-it-yourselfers. As the fastest growing retailer in U.S. History, Home Depot went public on NASDAQ in 1981, and moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1984. By 1989, Home Depot had opened its 100th store. In 1994, Home Depot moved into Canada with the acquisition of Aikenhead’s, in 2001, they moved into Mexico with the acquisition of Total Home. Home Depot acquired The Home Way in China in 2006.
During 1990’s, the Home Depot was well renowned for its amazing customer service as orange- blooded entrepreneurial culture and outstanding customer service. Since the initiation Home Depot took a long-term approach by training its employees to form enduring customer relationships rather than push for incremental sales gains. This made the company grow very quickly becoming the fastest
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 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)
Part of the demographic of shoppers in Home Depot retail outlets need an item or product immediately, and that brand recognition and in stock purchase option is vital to maintaining the competitive advantage of the organization.
An expansion into markets outside the USA would appropriate for Lowe’s if it is to take Home Depot head on. This kind of strategy would require acquisition of existing businesses and stores rather than going internationally as a green-field. This would be appropriate if done within a time frame of 6 months as this would provide the company with enough time to study the foreign market environment factors that may hinder or boost its operations. Such a move would thus help neutralize the risks exposed by the US housing markets as well as the purchasing economies of scale.
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.
Since the birth of a baby boy know as Bezalel the Jewish community of Prague became safer. This child was to become the well respected and loved, Rabbi Lowe. In Golem by Eduard Petiska, Rabbi Lowe, is portrayed as a wise and humble man who puts his Jewish community before himself. Throughout numerous stories we are introduced to many different qualities of Rabbi Lowe, he is seen as a hero an invincible force, nonetheless, he is also depicted as a modest human who also makes mistakes. He is depicted in this way for the benefit of the reader. Petiska wanted the readers to be able to relate to Rabbi Lowe and learn something different from every story, he created this goal by producing a character we could look up to but also feel like he was similar to us.
Sears sells everything except sustenance. Place – availability and comfort. Made its fortune as a list retailer, giving availability in a period when fixes had not extended to all business sectors. At that point, it infiltrated the U.S. commercial centre as an anchor store in pretty much every shopping centre – the place to shop