Swot Analysis Dollar General

This paper seeks to describe the Target Corporation, how it carries out its business activities, the products and services offered by the company. The main contents of this paper will be a summary of the business, the market, and the industry. Items to include in this section will be a comprehensive SWOT analysis, a developed marketing environment analysis, and an evaluation of the business’s primary customers, the marketing mix, and an outline of company’s main competitors.

The History of Walgreens started in 1901, with a medication store at the intersection of Bowen Ave and Cottage Grove in Chicago, possessed by Galesburg local Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. by 1913; Walgreens had developed to four stores on Chicago's South Side. It opened its fifth in 1915, and four more in 1916. By 1919, there were 20 stores in the chain. As an aftereffect of liquor disallowance, the 1920s was an effective time for Walgreens. At the time, liquor was unlawful. On the other hand, solution bourbon was accessible and sold by Walgreens.

Walgreens headquarters is located on 200 Wilmot Road in Deerfield Illinois (Walgreens Corp. Office), they currently operate 8,173 stores in all fifty states, district of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Facts & FAQ). With this many locations they have a large workforce, employing over 240,000 people (Facts &FAQ). About 30% of employees are healthcare providers which include pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and other heath-related professions (Facts & FAQ).

Lowe’s is a hardware store that sell products from vacuum and dishwashers to wood and other hardware equipment. Lowe’s sell products for home improvement and construction. Lowe’s was originally founded in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1921 by Lucius Smith Lowe. His daughter Ruth inherited the store in 1940 after Lucius passed away. She then sold the franchise to her brother Jim. Jim partnered with Carl Buchan in 1949 under the management of Buchan. Jim and Carl had several disagreements as far as the expansion and diversification so in 1954 the partners split making Carl the sole owner. He successfully expanded the business to other cities in North Carolina. Then he passed away in 1960 leaving the store to his executive team of five people. They made the company public in 1961. The former headquarters for Lowe’s was originally located in Wilkesboro, now located in Mooresville, North Carolina. The once small town business has expanded to a well-known name brand is currently located in several countries.

Who would have thought a native Chicago pharmacist would be the founding father of a leading billion dollar pharmaceutical retailing business? In 1901, Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. purchased a local drugstore where he worked as a pharmacist and with his drive and energy had a vision to be an industry leader. (Walgreens Historical Highlights, 2015) By sheer determination and some very good ideas, Mr. Walgreen was able to expand in 1909 opening a second Walgreens location. (Walgreens Historical Highlights, 2015) One of his key successes was manufacturing his own line of drug products to ensure high quality and low prices. (Walgreens Historical Highlights 2015)

JC Penney is an American department store chain with 1,095 locations throughout the United States. In the latter half of the 20th century, shopping malls became very popular and most of the company’s stores were situated in the downtown areas, they followed the trend of developing more stores in the shopping malls to attract customers and increase the financial profitability of the company. Conversely, JC Penney had freestanding stores, and was able to get consumer traffic which helped the company earn a profit and increase its market share.

Kroger’s mission/vision statement is “Our mission is to be a leader in the distribution and merchandising of food, pharmacy, health, and personal care items, seasonal merchandise, and related products and services”. It seems as if Kroger wants to be on the top and will not settle for less. They want to dominate the areas that everyone needs which is, food, pharmacy, health, and items that we need. I feel as if this is a strong mission statement because of this. Kroger has a set of goals that they want to accomplish by the year 2020. The first goal it to source 100% of its wild-caught seafood from fisheries that are Marine Stewardship Council certified, in MSC full assessment, in comprehensive Fishery Improvement Projects or certified by other

Walgreens is a drugstore that also sells health and beauty products, household items, office supplies, toys, and food and beverages. The wide variety of items combined with the in-store pharmacy makes Walgreens a popular destination for shoppers who have busy lives and need a one-stop-shop for affordable prescriptions and everyday essentials. The Walgreens Black Friday ad is always popular, because the retailer offers great deals on tons of items across all departments in the store. In addition to restocking your pantry and home with the essentials, you can also find great prices on small gifts, including beauty, toys, and electronics.

Walgreens When forming Walgreens in 1901, Mr. Charles Rudolph Walgreen had a vision of changing drugstores from humdrum fronts to actual businesses that imparted value to customers. He had worked in pharmacies before, and he had a vision of what he wanted. However, even he would not have known that it would grow to the behemoth it is now. The company is the biggest drug distributor in the United States and its territories. Its headquarters are still in Chicago, and it has survived in a pharmaceutical industry that has sometimes proved to be tempestuous.

CVS and Walgreens continue to fight as top competitors in a growing market. CVS has over 7,000 stores nationwide and is expanding, as is Walgreens today with over 8,000 stores. This market isn’t particularly easy to enter as a major player in the market early because of all the work that needs to be put in to install as many brick and mortar stores or get that much of the market share in a short amount of time. It takes many years to be truly established as a pharmacy chain as Walgreens has experienced, being founded in 1901 and CVS being founded in 1963. This is why the barriers to entry are somewhat high because of the high fixed costs with the construction of brick and mortar stores.

Twin City was incorporated in 1921. It was formed by combining the towns of Summit and

The early years of the Walgreens organization focused on expanding the footprint of the operation. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) To support this expansion Walgreens used a “command and control” strategy as a means of exercising leadership and communicating with employees. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) As the competitive landscape began to change, Walgreens recognized that it too needed a makeover. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) New competition entered the market such as mail order pharmacies, big box retailer pharmacies, and internet options such as Google and Amazon were selling the same products as Walgreens. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) The healthcare industry was changing. Heightened by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Walgreens recognized that it needed

Costco has a geographic dependence; Costco is over dependent on North American market to generate its revenues and profits. In FY2015, the US and Canadian markets together contributed 87.5% to the consolidated net sales of the company. Furthermore, within the US, the company is highly dependent on its California operations, which represented 31% of the US net sales in FY2015(Costco,2014). The company generates a bulk of its sales from U.S.A and Canada. “Any decline in the sales of the US (particularly in California) and Canadian operations due to weakening demand trends, increase in unemployment rates, increase in labor costs and other factors could significantly affect the company's sales”(Gabler,2016).

Gap Inc. was inspired by the struggle of a married couple Donald Fisher and his wife Doris Fisher, who together raised $63,000 to open their own store in San Francisco’s Ocean Avenue. They sold primarily Levi’s jeans and LP records, the records were sold to attract young people into the store. With the stores gained popularity it earned $2 million in its second year of operation. With all the success of their first store they opened their second store in San Jose in 1970 following the opening of their headquarters in Burgling in 1971. The company grew, establishing over 25 locations by 1973, selling private-labels and even an East Coast location. Growing over the following two decades, Gap evolved into a more upscale

According to What is SWOT Anlysis (2011), SWOT analysis is an analysis used to identify the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) of the company as well as external factors (opportunities and threats) of the company.