Posts Tagged ‘Global Economy’

Comparing Some of the Big Box Retailers August 31st, 2010

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There are small businesses, and there are big businesses, and really big businesses.  Some of the biggest companies in today’s global economy are the giant retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, and IKEA, also known as ‘big box stores’.  To analyze and compare these three is interesting because both Home Depot, and Lowe’s are U.S.-based, publically traded companies, while IKEA is a European, privately-held company.  In the next few paragraphs, we will look at how these companies stack up in terms of size, revenue, international reach, and history.

First, let’s take a look at who is the biggest retailer when measuring by numbers of stores and employees.  Through this unit of measurement, Home Depot is the largest of the three with 2,200 stores and over 320,000 employees.  Next up is Lowes with over 1,700 store locations and 235,000 employees.  IKEA is last in this leg of the analysis, with over 300 stores and 125,000 employees.

In terms of annual revenue, the 3 chains shake up in their overall order a little bit with Lowes stores tallying up a whopping total of $47.2b in 2009, followed by $41.2b in 2009 for the Home Depot stores, and $28.9b in 2009 revenue for IKEA stores.

In terms of International reach, the European-run IKEA stores are by far the farthest reaching, with their retail outlets spanning 37 countries throughout North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia.  Of the two American companies, Home Depot stores are located in a few more countries than Lowes stores, boasting retail chains in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Mexico, and China in addition to North America.  Lowes stores are found strictly is the U.S. and Canada.

As far as which giant has been around for the longest, that title would go to Lowe’s, having been founded in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina back in 1946.  IKEA opened their first store in Småland, Sweden in 1958.  Home Depot is the youngest of these three, having been founded in 1978 in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia.

So given how these 3 big box giants measured up in size, revenue, international reach, and history, which store would you consider to be the most significant in today’s economy?  It’s certainly a debatable question!

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Advanced Global Marketing August 6th, 2009

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It was back in the day that solely local marketing was a career, but that day is long gone. No longer does expansion refer to tentatively marketing a good to the customer in the next county over or perhaps a state away, but instead expansion now refers to forceful ventures into foreign countries. Business opportunities take flight in today’s global economy and in doing so the pressure of national as well as international competition has become more intense. While in the past businesses may have suffered if it was unable to gain access in the marketplace next door, today’s businesses will suffer permanent failure if it falls short to not only conquer local competition but global competition as well.

Advanced global marketing is the answer to the entrepreneur who understands the tide of the international marketplace and knows that the success or failure of the business will depend on taking it beyond his home town. Yet this very comprehension also requires a complete rethinking of the tried and true marketing approaches of older times. Perhaps one of the oldest tactics was utilizing an in-house sales force to circulate the product to the private and business consumer. Any marketing tool that guaranteed a company’s name and contact information display to be available to the eager consumer had proved some succession. Then there was the time of calendar marketing, mug giveaways, and other little household items that were useful and carried an advertising message.

In a remarkable twist of marketing efficiency, the global marketplace has encouraged many of the self employed to go back to the sales force method. Instead of hiring a paid in-house sales force, many companies now rely on a multi level marketing approach which only pays sales people when they’ve successfully completed and closed on a sale. Add to this the beginning of online magazines, the ability to quickly and efficiently send out newsletters to even the largest mailing list for a very low cost, the clever operation of blogs and the possibilities of the multi level marketing network approach make a lot of sense.

This methodology electronically imitates the giveaways of household items in the older marketing days and it is shown to be very effective. Naturally, like in the past, the calendar has always been more preferred and held more promise than the cigarette lighter. The catchy newsletter with the most useful information and fun facts and tidbits is read upon more often and even forwarded more than the one with less quality and value to the customer. Blogging and using articles to market your company increases its global exposure while offering the business owner the ability to create content unique to the interests of the numerous regions to which she or he is marketing a product. Cutting edge global marketing truly is a hands-on approach to claiming the worldwide profitability that is all but promised – with the help of the Internet.

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