Lowe's vs. Home Depot Financial Comparison & Analysis Essay example

The Home Depot mission is rooted upon 8 fundamental values. “ The Home Depot is in the home improvement business and our goal is to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices. We are a values-driven company and our eight core values include taking care of our people, giving back to our communities, doing the right thing, excellent customer service, creating shareholder value, building strong relationships, entrepreneurial spirit, and respect for all people” (ir.homedepot.com).

Lowe’s, and other home improvement businesses, serve three types of customers; the Do-It-Yourself customer that is the individual who completes their own projects and installations. The Do-It-For-Me

The Home Depot knows that they must stay on top of technology and management must be able to organize this function in a way that surpasses the competition, pleases the customers, and keep the employees satisfied.

Home Depot is a for profit organization that is a family owned organization that was started with the beliefs that all their products should be natural and non-toxic to the user and the environment. It was started by an individual with an idea to be different from the rest. It was built on the principle of creating value for their stockholders while never forgetting their values. They seek to be profitable, responsible and balance the needs of communities. The Home Depot 's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor 's 500 index. The Home Depot 's proposition was to build home-improvement warehouses, larger than any of their competitors ' facilities.

Lowe’s is targeting the customers who are interesting shopping for big-ticket appliances and high-margin home furnishings at its urban stores. Lowe's is pushing hard for growth to make up for lost time. The top home-improvement chain until the late 1980s, it was knocked off its perch as Home Depot embraced "big-box" retailing, while Lowe's clung to its small-town stores. Robert Tillman, 58, who has worked at Lowe's for 39 years, became CEO in 1996. A year later, fearful that Lowe's would forever lose out to Home Depot, Tillman began to open a handful of larger stores in metro areas. Now, Lowe's is accelerating that rollout just as Home Depot, which has saturated the largest markets, slows its expansion in order to squeeze more sales out of existing stores. To finance its expansion, Lowe's has added $2 billion in long-term debt during the past two years. In recent years, Lowe's earnings gains have outpaced its big rival's. In the first quarter of 2002, same-store sales at Home Depot rose 5%. But Lowe's, which opened 46 stores in the quarter, did even better: Its same-store sales climbed 7.5%. Lowe's profits jumped 54%, to $346 million, in the quarter. Home Depot failed to keep pace, as profits rose only 35%, to $856 million. The difference between a Lowe's store and a Home Depot has been fairly clear-cut up to now. Presentation counts at Lowe's.

Thirdly, redefining the market Home Depot is now synonymous with home-improvement, it is done so through great customer service, knowledgeable

The Home Depot provided a different kind of home improvement store that was unmatched, because of their ability to sell to retailers and individuals, while fitting the needs of both. Smaller scale stores were around, but the massive supplies and range of choices the brand offered were unmatched. The current mission statement according to their corporate website is, “to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices.” Based off of their website, I have come to the conclusion that they target hard working men. They seem to focus on community outreach and military outreach specifically. A lot of their websites designs cater to the purpose of their business. References and

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.

The Home Depot, Inc. (The Company) is the largest home improvement retailer in the world and the second largest retailer in the United States. The Company has been publicly traded since 1981 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "HD" and is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

The Home Depot, Inc. has climbed its way up to being one of the world’s largest home improvement centers, one of the largest retailers in the United States, and rank in the top 100 in the Fortune 500 companies list provided by fortune.com. (Fortune 500, 2016) They operate 478 warehouse stores that sell thousands of items to customers and professionals. They have retail stores located throughout the United States, with stores in all 50 states, as well as in Mexico, Chile, and Canada. Their goal is to offer high levels of service, a broad selection of products, and have the most competitive prices. Home Depot was founded in 1978 by coworkers Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus. The two hatched a business plan, and after securing sufficient

Home Depot's corporate- and business-level strategy is low cost differentiation. This strategy is explained as a combination of offering consumers low cost essentials as well as offering consumers unique or unusual products (Parnell, 2014).The Home Depot uses the idea of offering specialty merchandise to those do it yourself customers along with professionals in the industry. All items that relate to home building or home improvement are offered at a low cost value. Items are not priced with high mark up. Most are low-cost items that are affordable to the average consumer.

The Home Depot is committed to being a global company by enhancing direct relationships with quality manufacturers, and reinforcing the assurance in global suppliers to provide products that offer Home Depot customers value, innovation and quality. I plan to use articles, journals and the company’s website to gather the necessary information needed to complete this project.

When The Home Depot was founded in 1978, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank had no idea how revolutionary this new “hardware store” would be for home improvement and the retail industry. The Home Depot sells from building materials to furniture, everting about your home improvement. Today, the Home Depot is the world 's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,274 retail stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, Canada and Mexico. 1,977 stores of them in the U.S. about 385,000 Employees around the world. As of the end of the first quarter of 2016, The Home Depot about 298 international operations represent 13.1 percent of store base. The Company has been already the largest home improvement retailer in Mexico, in addition to the U.S. The Home Depot entered Canada in 1994 and Mexico in 2001 through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth. Both markets are examples of how The Home Depot combines its vast knowledge of the home improvement industry with the needs, shopping trends and customs of each unique geography to

Home Depot stores sell a wide assortment of building materials, home improvement and garden products. Twenty-six EXPO Design Center stores sell products and services primarily for design and renovation projects. Additionally, the company operates four Villager’s Hardware test stores, which offer products for home enhancement

Additionally, they offer services, such as flooring install and outsource services that they are unable to accommodate like plumbing. ("Home Depot’s Product Portfolio and Supplier Relationships - Market Realist," n.d.)