Market Analysis of House of Fraser

When fashion tastes started to change in the late 19th century, HBC adapted with its customer base, and shifted its focus ("Our History"). Over time, HBC started to carry a wider variety of products to help grow their company, and to meet consumer demands ("Our History"). Another example of when HBC adapted and innovated is when they opened six department stores in six of the major cities all over Canada ("Our History"). When there was a recession in the 1980s, HBC once again adapted to their new

 Direct Competitors - Jolson Hoist's direct competitors include those that sell any type of

There are several different types of stores within the discount retail industry, and for comparison's sake, the industry is further broken into many segments. DG is in the market segment known as the dollar store category. As a result, competitors such as Wal-Mart are in the same industry but not the same peer group. Comparisons will be made throughout this report to Wal-Mart and other big firms because they tend draw some of the same customers.

Rivalry: The rivalry in the retail industry is medium/high. Even though there are may retail companies in Australia with similar product offerings, only few belong to David Jones strategic group. On the other hand, the high fixed cost and industry overcapacity will eventually lead to the exit of the weakest market players.

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.

Rivalry- Grocery Checkout’s main competitors are Loblaw’s and Valu-Mart. Their proximity to the University of Western Ontario makes them accessible to the students, but by public transportation or their own cars. The

Lowe’s was ranked 42nd in the Forbes 500 top companies in 2009. It has grown into the 2nd largest home improvement retailer in the United States. In constant competition with Home Depot and other stores, Lowe’s must find a way to remain competitive in an oligopoly marketplace. It is important to understand not only what type of market Lowe’s operates in but also the advantages and disadvantages when reviewing margin and profits.

This ratio is similar to ROA except that it shows only the return on the resource contributed by the shareholders. Home Depot maintained steady ratio the last two years while Lowe’s has been decreasing over the past three years.

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.

Profitability and liquidity ratios are impressive and continue to reflect the company’s ability to succeed and compete with archrival and industry powerhouse Home Depot. The stock market ratios have fluctuated throughout the period analyzed, largely due in part to world events beyond management’s scope of control and the American public’s uncertainty in the market as a whole. All in all Lowe’s is forecasted to continue its growth and upward trend in all indicative areas and remain a power in the retail hardware, special orders and home improvement market, trespassing on territory once clearly dominated by Home Depot, the worlds largest hardware retailer. Lowe’s is a favorite amongst institutional investors as their holdings make up 80.80% of common stock issued.

The TJX Company have a big quantity of competitors, the biggest rivals are Burlington Coat Factory, GAP, and Ross Stores, Bed Bath & Beyond, Winners, Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and JCPenney, but are still other companies that are considered competitors to the TJX Companies. Those mentioned before are the most dangerous in the current market.

Greig and Peck have already done some research about who their competitors will be. They see Fleetway and Palasad North as their direct competitors and Tim Hortons, Starbucks and William's Coffee Pub as their indirect competitors.

classified as highly competitive. The key players are Bed Bath & Beyond, LinensN-Things, Williams Sonoma, and Pier 1. The home furnishings industry is also

Exhibit A shows Porter’s Five forces analysis for Trader Joe’s. Competition within the incumbents is high. Trader Joe’s biggest competitor would be Whole foods, nation’s largest retailer of organic and natural

Moving on to the year 2014, we can see that Harvey Norman, has considerably decreased its current ratio by 57% from the previous year (see Graph 1), while JB Hi-Fi, has increased its current ratio by 37%. Hence, we can say that Harvey Norman has been more efficient in managing its current assets than JB Hi-Fi.