Lowe's International Performance

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Lowe’s Companies, Inc. International Expansion Stefan Schropp BUSN 608G Spring 2012 Company Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is a multinational chain of retail home improvement and hardware store based in North Carolina that is currently the 7th largest retailer in the United States. Lowe’s was founded in 1946 when, then part owner, H. Carl Buchan began expansion of his one small town hardware store in to a chain of hardware stores in what has today become known as the big-box model. To accomplish this growth, Buchan began eliminating the wholesalers and dealing directly with manufacturers. By concentrating on selling only hardware in the building boom of post-World War II America he was able to establish Lowe’s as a consistent leader in pricing and selection. Over the next 15 years, sales grew steadily and Buchan was able to open stores in Durham, Charlotte, and Asheville and eventually throughout western North Carolina. In 1961, one year after the unexpected passing of Buchan, Lowe’s leadership team took the company public at a time when Lowe’s was operating 21 stores with reported revenue of $32 million. The decline of housing starts and the arrival of primary competitor Home Depot caused some concern in the 1980s. However, despite these conditions, Lowe’s posted its first ever $1 billion sales year in 1982 with profits of $25 million. During this time period Lowe’s also underwent two major transformations. The first was the adoption of the big-box format as a response to the overwhelming success of rivals using this model. Despite initial concerns that small towns would not support stores of this size the company was forced to adopt the format to remain competitive and today the vast majority of their stores are in this format. The second major transformation was brought on by the arrival of the do-it-yourself repairman. In order to accommodate

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