Lowe's Competitive Analysis

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)

Lowe’s is continuously being threatened by Home Depot in losing market shares. It is a constant battle; Lowe’s and Home Depot are expanding substantially in attempts to take over territory claimed by the other as well as unclaimed territory. The biggest weakness for Lowe’s is its lack of customer service. Customers are leaving Lowe’s in search of credible, knowledgeable service which is found at Home Depot.

The home improvement sector of the economy is large with two major players in the industry and with many smaller local and regional competitors. These two major competitors are Home Depot and Lowe’s. These two companies account for over $110 billion in total sales each year. Even though sales have gone down over the past few years due to the downturn in the economy they have not gone down nearly as much as home sales and this is due to more people deciding to do more home improvements to their own home then buying a new home. Both of these companies have been able to keep up sales and increase them year over year by improving current

Lowe’s (LOW) and Home Depot (HD) are competitors in the every growing market of Home Improvement. The following analysis of each company will examine the home improvement industry, the individual companies, their operating philosophies, their financial strengths or weaknesses, and a final conclusion on which company would be a better long-term investment.

Home Depot and Lowe's believe in big warehouse space, an informal atmosphere and low prices. They are able to offer the lower prices to consumers due to their purchasing power. Inventory differs depending on the story type, home centers typically sock more lumber and building supplies, as their biggest customers are contractors. They pay their floor employees minimum wage, and keep overall costs down by keeping them as part time employees.

Lowe’s is part of an oligopoly type market structure. An oligopoly is a situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms with at least two firms controlling the market. The main key to behavior in an oligopoly is that companies must take into account what other companies will do. In perfect competition, firms are price-takers and can ignore other firms (Basic Economics, 2009). The home improvement retail stores are an industry that includes Home Depot, Lowe’s, Builders Square, and in other states, Menards.  Smaller companies have to try to compete with them to stay in business.

However, in 1999, Lowe’s recorded very high sales growth alongside its expansion in preparation for the new millennium. From 1999 to 2001, Lowe’s began to assert itself as a worthy competitor for Home Depot, embodied in its significantly better margins and turnover ratios despite the recessionary economic environment. This improvement in ratios is indicative of positive change in the management of the

The first company that will be analyzed is Home Depot. Home Depot's total assets increased to $40,518 million from $40,125, an increase of 0.9%. These figures, however, are lower than the value of total assets on the books for HD for the prior three years. The 2008 fiscal year was the point where Home Depot had the highest asset levels at $44.324 billion. The recession has been the biggest culprit for the decline in the size of Home Depot. All of the firms in the building supplies industry have a strong relationship between their sales and the strength of the housing market, as home purchases are a major impetus for home renovation projects. Home Depot's size declined with the onset of slowness in the housing market, and it is expected that its size will not begin to increase until the housing market recovers. Home Depot management has noted that there are signs of life in the US housing market, and that this should be taken as an encouraging sign for the company (Isidore, 2012). Indeed, the company's balance sheet has grown in size throughout the 2013 fiscal year, so that the latest Q3 total

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.

Buying Power. Customers have a slight advantage since other retailers offering similar items. The way Lowe’s can separate them from the competition is to offer a product mix that appeals to both male and female needs.

Over the last few years, it has been predominantly evident that Sears Canada has been not performing relevant to the standards present within the competitive industry. The market of retail department stores has dramatically changed since the time the corporate entity first began. To stay relevant within today’s retail industry, Sears Canada has to change their current operations. In today's market, the power of value-driven consumer products has been dominating the industry due to their affordable prices and emphasized popularity. Sears Canada has failed to distinguish themselves within the industry as either an affordable or a high quality department store. With emerging high-end retailers like Nordstrom, Holt Renfrew, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the rise of online discount retailers like Amazon and eBay, Sears can not afford to flood both market segments. This has become a major issue that Sears Canada is facing, as the company will need to differentiate themselves from their competitors by focusing their resources in the home improvement industry.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc., is a $26.5 billion company that employs 122,000 people. It is the world’s second largest home improvement retailer and the 14th largest retailer in the United States as well as the 30th worldwide. Lowe’s owns 854 stores in 44 states and serves eight million do-it-yourself and commercial customers weekly. Headquartered in Wilkesboro, N.C., Lowe’s has been in business for 57 years and publicly held for 41 with stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LOW. The company offers products and services in home improvement, home décor, home maintenance, home repair and remodeling and lawn and garden.

Lowe 's is the world 's second largest home improvement retailer and the 14th largest retailer in the U.S. Lowe 's is in the midst of an aggressive expansion plan, opening a new store on average every three days. Lowe 's is an active supporter of the communities it serves. Through the Lowe 's Heroes volunteer programs and the Home Safety Council, it provides help to civic groups with public safety projects and share important home safety and fire prevention information with neighborhoods across the country. Lowe 's has been a publicly held company since October 10, 1961. Its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with shares trading under the ticker symbol LOW.Lowe’s Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and Canada. The company provides a range of products and services for home decoration, maintenance, repair, remodeling, and property maintenance. It offers home improvement products in various categories, such as appliances, lumber, paint, flooring, building materials, millwork, lawn and landscape products, fashion plumbing, hardware, lighting, tools, seasonal living, rough plumbing, outdoor power equipment, cabinets and countertops, nursery, rough electrical, home environment, home organization, and windows and walls. The company’s products also include boards, panel products, irrigation pipes, vinyl sidings, and ladders. It serves

Home Depot competitors are primarily in the home improvement and hardware retail industry, but also compete in the building materials retail and distribution, consumer electronics and appliances retail, and convenience stores and truck stops sectors. Some of Home Depot’s main competitors include: Lowe’s, True Value, and Ace Hardware. Now, these competitors are the main competition of Home Depot and all three stores carry about 75% if not more of what Home Depot sells. Keep in mind, that there are also smaller companies, often family-owned lumberyards or hardware stores that compete with Home Depot and the other large chain stores. However, Home Depot’s biggest competition is Lowe’s. “Home Depot and Lowe’s are home

At the event of any change to the company may it be negative or positive, profitable or non-profitable their will be an adverse effect to the stakeholders. Such effects are as follows: increase on overall sales of the company will yield increase on shares and earnings to either shareholders, employees and business owners; which in-turn will create profit that could be use for company expansion and purchasing of additional tools to use for improvement; that will lead in helping increase customers service elevating the aid provided to our customers; and also by increasing sales will also mean profit for Lowe’s vendors and suppliers, and so on…