Staples Inc. is the country's largest operator of office supplies superstores, offering a large selection of products at low prices, primarily to small business owners. Staples pioneered this concept in 1986 and grew rapidly after opening its first store in the Boston area. The slowly company expanded to areas outside the Northeast, by the early 2000s, there were about 1,300 Staples outlets located both in major large areas and smaller markets in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and 10 Canadian provinces. In addition to the retail operations, the company runs a delivery business that utilizes catalog and Internet businesses under the Staples and Quill names, as well as contract stationery businesses, which deliver office supplies to medium-sized and large companies. Staples' European operations consist of nearly 200 retail outlets, under the Staples name in the United Kingdom and Germany and under the name Office Centre in the Netherlands and Portugal.
Sainsbury’s Background information Sainsbury’s is the UK’s longest standing major food retailing chain which was founded in 1869 being established as a partnership when John Sainsbury’s and his wife opened a store in Holborn, London. Selling fresh foods then later expanding into packaged groceries like tea and sugar. Today Sainsbury’s has 1,200 super markets and convenience stores employing over 161,000 people. Sainsbury’s was the largest grocery retailer in 1922, as 1995 came, Tesco became the market leader and Asda became the second largest putting Sainsbury’s in third place. Ownership Sainsbury’s PLC is a Public limited company which means that they have their shared bought and sold on the stock exchange.
They sell general merchandise, clothes, quality food and finance such as M&S bank. M&S was established at Kirkgate Market, Leeds in 1884, it has grown from a single market stall to being a Public Limited Company (plc). It is listed on the London Stock Exchange is included in the FTSE 100 Index (list of top performing 100 companies) and has Group revenue of £10.3bn. Their UK turnover is split between Food (55%) and General Merchandise (45%). M&S has stores all over the world and their largest presence is within the UK with 798 stores and 455 international stores and they employ around 86,000 employees globally.
State Farm's 17,700 agents and 68,600 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts - more than 78.7 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY State Farm is one of the larges insurance companies in the United States since 1942. It founder by G.J. Mecherle in 1929 who believe “Honesty isn’t the best policy – it is the only policy”, which is the drive and service that is still true today. State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada.
Eric Allen 6/16/2015 FIN 3400 Professor Rusell MACY’s, Inc. vs Express, Inc. The two stores I decided to compare for my financial ratio analysis was Macys, Inc. and Express, Inc. These are both indeed clothing stores however they entail very different aspects about one another. Express consists of over 600 stores in the United States and renders around $1.8 billion in sales on an annual basis. Macys on the other hand is known on a more international level with 789 department stores and also named the 16th largest retail store in 2012.
The largest companies are Shaw Industries, Mohawk Industries and Beaulieu of America; Shaw is currently the worldwide leader in sales. Shaw consumes 22% of the market alone, while Mohawk lags slightly behind at 17%. Some competitors have an advantage by selling their products directly to retailers to cut costs, while others sell through floorcovering wholesalers. Several manufacturers sell other floor coverings other than carpeting,
Firm Research and Bid Strategy Business Description HA Corporation is a competitive firm that deals in the sale and distribution of household appliances throughout the country and has been operational for the last nine years. It is owned and run by six partners all of whom have an equal share of the business as well as responsibilities towards the company. HA is listed as a Fortune 500 company and has annual revenue of over $18 million, more than 700 employees. The company is mainly a dealership business. Appliances from different manufactures award the company’s clients a variety.
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap INC. IKEA is a privately held, international home products’ company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. IKEA is the world's largest furniture retailer. It gives priority to cost control, operational details, and continuous product development, allowing it to lower its prices by an average of two to three per cent over the decade to 2010, while continuing its global expansion (Kamprad, 2012) .IKEA and Old Navy are popular affordable brands in North America, there over 1000 stores available for customers. However the quality of both brands do not compare to the more expensive brands. Old Navy and IKEA are both accessible stores that can be found across North America and online.
Merchandise has traveled from manufacturers to store who attempt to sell the items to customers (retailindustry.about.com, n.d.) Retailers are woven into the fabric of nations’ economy. They include department (Sears), discount (Walmart), specialty (GAP), and big box stores (Best Buy). The industry was the second largest employer in 2010 accounting for 12.1 % of all private sector jobs. There economic contribution including direct, indirect, and induced totaled 28.6 million jobs and $1.9 trillion of the gross domestic product (GDP) (rila.org,
Marketing Mix Lowe’s Companies MKT/421 Marketing April 12, 2012 Marketing Mix Lowe’s was founded in 1946; Lowe’s has developed from a small hardware store to the second leading home improvement retailer worldwide and the 7th largest retailer in the United States (Lowe’s History, 2012). Lowe’s runs more than 1,745 stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 2011, Lowe’s received numerous distinguished industry awards, including number 50 on the Fortune 500 list, and three- time winner of the Energy Star Excellence Award in Retail (Lowe’s, 2012). Lowe’s sells a wide-range of home improvement products in its large, warehouse-style stores ranging from appliances to tools, paint, lumber, and nursery products. Lowe’s stocks 40,000 products in 16 categories (Lowes, 2012).