Home Depot Compare And Contrast Essay

Lowes and Home Depot have been in competition with each other since the beginning of their existence. They are similar in many ways and different in many others. When looking at the functional strategies employed by each of the industry giants it is easy to see where they differ and where the similarities exist. Both of the companies operate with a corporate strategy of growth to meet the full market potential and captivate as much of the market as they can. Parnell (2014), reports that competitive strategy and marketing functional strategy go hand in hand. Home Depot and Lowes both market via the internet. Both companies have websites that allow for online ordering and both have worked diligently to improve the online shopping experience. Both stores realize that 20% of online shopping with in-store pickup leads to in-store purchases so there is a huge push for both to excel at online marketing tools (Moskowitz, 2014). They both promote themselves as having everything under one roof that a do-it-yourselfer would need to do a home improvement project. Home Depot differentiates itself by offering how-to and DIY clinics online and in-store for its customers. Pricing strategies are very similar for both companies. Both offer the best price strategy; meaning that if a product is available at another store at a cheaper price they will match and beat that price by 10%. Product and service strategies differ somewhat for both companies. Home Depot and Lowes have developed completely different brand images

According to Kalogeropoulos (2016), sales margins were consistent with past years; up 6% for Home Depot and only 5% for Lowe’s. Cash flow was close, but again; Home Depot had a greater margin at $7.4 billion compared to $4.5 billion for Lowes (Kalogeropoulos, 2016). Per Kalogeropoulos (2016), Home Depot uses dividend payouts to award its shareholders rather than stock repurchases like Lowes