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Brand Comparison Report Mackenzie Jones Professor Osbon
Mark 4450-Spring 2017
THE HOME DEPOT
THE HOME DEPOT versus�
Lowe’s
Execu&veSummary1CompanyContacts 2AboutTheHomeDepot 3AboutLowe’s 4MarketShareandRevenue 5 GoalsandStrategies TargetMarket 6StorePresence:TheHomeDepot7StorePresence:Lowe’s 8Sen&mentAnalysis 9SocialPlaPorm
Website 11 Facebook 12 Instagram 13YouTube 14Pinterest 15Blog 16Email 17SocialPlaPormwinner 18
CustomerDigitalExperience19-20Recap 21WhoNailedIt? 22MeetMackenzie 23
Table of Contents
TOC
Home improvement has been and always will be a vital part of our everyday lives. Whether it’s home renovations, updating landscapes, or new construction, consumers and professionals look to these retail stores for guidance and materials needed to complete a project. The Home Depot and Lowe’s are the largest retail home improvement chains in North America with over 4,000 stores collectively in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Not only do they have brick-and-mortar stores, both have a strong online presence. The Home Depot and Lowe’s participate in e-commerce, maintain social media and blogs and have mobile applications. Each company aims to differentiate, engage with customers through content marketing, and work to grow their market share. Throughout this report, I will be outlining each home improvement brand’s social presence, store presence and their customer digital experience to determine which brand is most effectively engaging with customers while retaining the market’s attention.
THE HOME DEPOT Executive Summary
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THE HOME DEPOT 2455 Paces Ferry Road SE.
Atlanta, GA 303391-800-466-3337
www.thehomedepot.com
Lowe’s 1000 Lowe’s BoulevardMooresville, NC 28117
704-758-1000www.lowes.com
Company Contacts
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June 29, 1978- Founded by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank
2,274 Stores across United States, Canada and Mexico
2010-First brick-and-mortar retailer with application for three smartphone platforms
2014: CEO- Craig Menear
Home Depot Foundation: Founded 2002, committed to improving the homes and lives of U.S veterans and their families
DMI Mobile Maturity Model: 2016 U.S. Retail: The Home Depot Ranked #1 for desired customer experience and mobile functionality
1990- Became the largest home improvement retailer
June 22, 1979- First stores opened in Atlanta, GA
THE HOME DEPOT: A BRIEF HISTORY
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1946- Founded by Carl H. Buchan
1840 Stores across United States, Canada and Mexico
1982- Had first Billion Dollar sales year
1994- Stores expanding to 85,000 square space of retail space throughout country 2014- Mobile Application2005- CEO Robert Niblock
DMI Mobile Maturity Model: 2016 U.S. Retail: Lowe’s ranked #6 for desired customer experience and mobile functionality
1990-Second largest home improvement retailer in the U.S.
Lowe’s: A Brief History
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$94.6 billion-Sales for Fiscal 2016
$59.1 billion-Sales for Fiscal 2015
Market Share and Revenue:
The home improvement industry in the United States is valued at about $313.5b in sales with about 5.9% growth of the market overall. The top two market share holders are The Home Depot and Lowe’s making up 27.2% and 18.4% respectively. The Home Depot has experienced higher growth over the past 5 years compared to Lowe’s. Over the last five years, both The Home Depot and Lowe’s have invested in e-commerce and both are experiencing growth in this new digital home improvement area.
Stock Market: NYSE: LOW- 76.90 USD
Stock Market: NYSE: HD- 144.06 USD
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The Home Depot categorizes their target market into three markets: Do-It-Yourself, Do-It-For Me, and Professional Customers. (Average age 50, 38% earned a college degree, and have a yearly income $60,800)• Do-It-Yourself- Comes to the store with project in mind, utilizes the in-store
team members for guidance, direction to project materials and seek advice to complete the project own their own.
• Do-It-For Me- Utilize the installation services The Home Depot offers. They also utilize in-house consulting and third party installation services
• Professional Customers- Professional Contractors, renovators, interior designers, builders, landscapers and others. They utilize the PRO offers, delivery options, and is a loyal customer.
Target Market
Lowe’s categorizes its self into two markets- retail customers and professional customers. Like The Home Depot, Lowe’s focus on those individuals looking to improve their home and landscape, however Lowe’s as an edge with female customers. (Average age 49, 35% earned a college degree and have a yearly income $54,000)• Retail Customers- Looking for products to assist them with home
improvement projects, home landscaping updates, Do-It-Yourself workshops, and seek assistance/guidance from store professionals
• Professional Customers- Builders, interior designers, and other professionals looking for products that can assist them to complete these jobs.
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Store Presence:
The Home Depot catches consumers eyes with their bold orange and contrasting white. When you walk into the store you enter into a large open retail space with hanging signage that will easily direct you to which department you are looking for. There are helpful staff wearing bright orange aprons, team members express their personality by painting their name and personal characteristics on aprons as well. Customers also have The Home Depot mobile app to help them navigate isles, check inventory, and read customer reviews on products as they shop in the store. If a customer cannot come into a physical store, The Home Depot website offers all products online, “endless isles”, with the options of shipping the products to the store, their home or from store to their home. There are many displays for DIY projects with ties back to their Pinterest, website and blog platforms.
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Store Presence:
Lowe’s welcomes customers into their warehouse sized home improvement store with their signature blue, white and red color scheme. Like The Home Depot, when customers enter the store they are easily directed by over hanging signage indicating where certain products to complete your home improvement project are located. Each store has a large selection of products for every type of customer from first time home improvement buyers to professional contractors. Employees are readily available to assist customers and are recognizable by their red vests. Their mobile application also has the ability to help customers quickly locate products in store, determine inventory of products and order products from their mobile device. In-Store How-To classes are also available for customers.
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Sentiment Analysis
Strength
84%
Sentiment
4:1
Passion
44%
Reach
74%
Strength
41%
Sentiment
7:1
Passion
42%
Reach
33%
*BasedondailyaveragesfromSocialMen5on.com
By conducting a sentiment analysis, it was found that The Home Depot has more individuals talking about the brand online. Lowe’s generally has a higher ratio of positive comments online to negative comments about their brand. The Home Depot has about a 40% higher reach than Lowe’s, meaning they have more unique users talking about their brand online and on social media platforms. Both brands relatively have similar passion scores, but there is a 2% higher likelihood that customers who are talking about The Home Depot online will do so again . The Home Depot’s strength of being talked about online is also about 40% higher than that of Lowes. Overall, from conducting a sentiment analysis on both brands, it appears that The Home Depot has a stronger social media presence than its competitor, Lowe’s. I will now compare each brand on several social media and consumer digital experience platforms to determine which brand “nails” each social platform.
Strength: Likelihood the brand is being talked about onlineSentiment:
Ratio of generally positive to negative comment on social media
Passion: Likelihood people who are talking about the brand online will do so againReach: Number
of unique visitors talking about a brand divided by the number of mentions
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Social Platforms The Home Depot and Lowe’s will be compared on the following Social Media Platforms: Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Blogs and Email. A Gold Hammer indicates the company that has “won” the Key Performance Indicator for that platform. The
more gold hammers a company accumulates, the better their social platform.
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Website Both brands have similar ecommerce websites that allow consumers to shop for products online, company information, DIY projects and current promotions. The Home Depot has higher traffic ranking globally (450) and in the United States (86) compared to Lowe’s (Globally 990, United States 178). The Home Depot has a robust e-commerce strategy that has resulted in high growth in the online market, with about 5.6% of sales in Q3 of 2016, huge growth from 1% in 2011. The Home Depot recognized that investing in ecommerce was essential but allowing the customer to pick their product up in store and have the ability to ask product related questions to professionals was even more important. Competitors, such as Lowe’s, are modeling this online and delivery service to help grow their online traffic and e-commerce growth. The Home Depot “nails” website!
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Facebook THE HOME DEPOT Lowe’s
Likes 2,830,768 3,934,463
Check-ins 3,290,330 2,252,266
Peopletalkingaboutbrand
41,562 87,771
Both Lowe’s and The Home Depot have a very active and atheistically pleasing Facebook pages. Each fill their posts with in-store promotions, online deals, do-it-yourself ideas and tips on completing home improvement projects. Lowe’s has over 1 million more likes and over 40,000 users talking about their brand. Though Lowe’s is dominating in “likes” and strength on Facebook, The Home Depot has about a million more individuals “checking-in” to their store locations. Lowe’s has a higher response rate to individuals comments on their posts, complaints and general questions than The Home Depot. Overall, not only does Lowes have higher likes and more people talking about the brand, but they engage with users more and respond to complaints faster than The Home Depot. Lowe’s “nails” Facebook!
12Key P
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manc
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Instagram THE HOME DEPOT Lowes
Followers 320,000 371,000
Posts 1,212 1,271
AverageLikes* 3,205.2 1884
AverageConsumerComment*
40.8 27.2
*Basedon5Postsbefore2/21/17
Lowe’s and The Home Depot have similar Instagram content and highlight different home renovations followers can complete. Lowe’s has 51,000 more followers than The Home Depot, yet The Home Depot seems to have more likes and followers commenting on their posts. The Home Depot’s Instagram content appears to be more popular with their followers, thus receiving more likes per post compared to Lowe’s. Several of The Home Depots posts include user generated content highlighting customers home renovation projects, cute puppies in their orange shopping carts and the Do-It-Yourself personality. Lowe’s, though they have more followers, seems to be missing the engagement with user factor on this social platform. The Home Depot “nails” Instagram!
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Key P
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YouTube
YouTube THE HOME DEPOT Lowes
Subscribers 134,915 271,269
AverageViews 2079.8 3641.2
*Basedonlast5videosbefore2/21/17
When it comes to YouTube, Lowe’s has a strong channel and appeals to more individuals. Lowe’s has over 130,000 more subscribers to their channel and about 1,500 more average views per video. Their “The Weekender” series is an absolute hit with their audience . This campaign highlights a women completing home improvement projects on her weekend off. They go step by step and show that even the busiest woman can complete her Pinterest projects. In comparison, The Home Depot’s YouTube focuses more on traditionally “manly” content such as “grills”(shown to right) and is lack-luster in their video descriptions compared to Lowe’s. Lowe’s has double the amount of views, subscribers and has more exciting video content. Lowe’s “nails” Youtube!
Do-It Yourself Campaign description: ”Home-grown fruits and veggies always taste better”
The Weekender Campaign: description: “DIY daredevil Monica Mangin Tackles Tess and Barry’s neglected outdoor patio nook in the heart of NYC. Can She pull off a total transformation in just 2 days?”
14Key P
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Pinterest THE HOME DEPOT Lowes
Followers 554,148 3,428,630
Pins 4,896,974 1,008,463
Pinterest is a superb platform for each brand to showcase DIY projects, product offerings and to tie together other social platforms together. Both Lowe’s and The Home Depot utilize user generated content, atheistically pleasing photos and categorizes their Pinterest boards into different home improvement projects. Lowe’s is a clear winner in captivating the Pinterest community and does an excellent job tying together other social platforms, such as The Weekend series on YouTube. The Home Depot has more pins but not necessarily more pinners following what that are pinning. Lowe’s “nails” Pinterest!
15Key P
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A blog is the perfect way to display do-it-your self projects and share ideas. The Home Depot’s blog is captivating and very informational. The blog highlights different home improvement ideas, DIY projects, recipes, and the best part is integrating their blog with their Pinterest account. By allowing blog readers to Pin their posts, they are effectively exposing readers to another social platform where they can learn more about their product offering. Lowe’s blog is not as exciting in comparison to their other social platforms. Visitors have to scroll down the landing page to find different content instead of having a dashboard menu to find things faster. Lowe’s does do a good job of incorporating their YouTube channel at the bottom of the landing page. The Home Depot “nails” blogs!
Blog
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Both brands offer an email subscription than sends subscribers special offers, home improvement ideas, links to website/mobile application and current product offerings. When signing up for the Lowe’s email, I received a pop up thanking me for signing up and it took several hours to receive my first email. As soon as I signed up for The Home Depot email subscription, immediately the landing page had a large thank you and notifying me that a $5 coupon was waiting for me. Also, the email included information about their mobile application, stores near me and links to their website. Once the initial email was received, both brands had similar email newsletters. The Home Depot makes a stronger first impression with email subscribers by acknowledging them as “great customers” and reward them for a newsletter sign up conversion. The Home Depot “nails” emails!
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Social Platform Winner THE HOME DEPOT Lowe’s
Website
YouTube
Blog
EmailOverall, The Home Depot effectively engages in social platforms and connects with consumers, while driving growth with home improvement e-commerce. Their website, Instagram, blog and email are superb to Lowe’s, and have the opportunity to grow in the Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest platforms. The Home Depot has the reach, passion and strength to continue excelling at exceeding consumer expectations through a digital and social platforms. The Home Depot recognizes the potential that creating an integrated digital and physical retail store experience has, they are exceeding expectations and setting retail standards, not just in the home improvement industry. 18
Customer Digital Experience
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The Home Depot
DMI conducted a study to determine what customers want from their mobile to enhance their in store experience. Their Mobile Maturity Model: 2016 U.S. Retail, ranked The Home Depot #1 by meeting consumers top 6 desired experiences: inventory, store guidance, product review, pricing, personalization and checkout/loyalty. The Home Depots mobile app provides users the best experience possible, as seen throughout the comparison, providing reviews, guidance, product reviews, paint color matching, inventory checks and much more. Lowes’s mobile application ranked #7 by DMI and fall short on some characteristics that The Home Depot is dominating. Overall, The Home Depot “nails” consumer digital experience.
Lowes
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THE HOME DEPOT Lowe’s
Store Presence
Website
Sentiment Analysis
YouTube
Blog
Digital Experience
Recap
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THE HOME DEPOT NAILED IT!
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Meet Mackenzie
Mackenzie Jones Terry College Of Business: Marketing-Sales Emphasis
Graduation: May 2017 (678)-596-8737
Email:[email protected] mackenzienjones.com
My father and I at The Home Depot on Black Friday
My dog Phi helping me with a DIY project!
