EXCLUSIVEBRANDSOURCING RETAILER/WHOLESALER ...

1000 Lowe’s Blvd., Mooresville, NC 28117 USA
Tel: (704) 758-1000
Fax: N/A
www.lowes.com
Total Fiscal 2011 Sales: $48.8 Billion +3.4%%
Percentage of Sales in Exclusive Brands: N/A
Principal Business: Lowe’s operates 1,723 home improvement DIY stores in 50 states, Canada,
and Mexico. The breakout: 1,723 in US, 24 in Canada, 2 in Mexico. It claims to be the second
largest home improvement retailer in the world. Its prototype store, stocking up to 40,000 products
in 20 distinct categories, is 117,000 square feet, while smaller version is 94,000 square feet. Its
private brands cover such categories as: tools, seasonal living, home fashion, home organization,
paint, fashion plumbing, flooring, millwork, hardware, lighting and lumber. Lowe’s operates 15
distribution centers.
EB Identities: Premium Living, Perfect Flame, Garden Plus lawn & landscaping products, Real
Organized storage units. Reliabilt®, Kobalt® tools, allen+roth® home décor products, Portfolio®
lighting products, Garden Treasures® lawn and patio products, Utilitech® electrical and utility
products, Reliabilt® doors and windows, Aquasource® faucets and sinks, Harbor Breeze® ceiling
fans and Top Choice® lumber products.
EB skus: N/A
Profile: Started in 1946 as a modest hardware and general merchandise store in North Wilkesboro,
NC, Lowe’s began venturing outside the US in 2007 with half a dozen stores in Canada. During
the current fiscal period, the firm (NYSE: LOW) opened 42 new stores, eight of them in Canada,
and two in Mexico, a new market. “We are growing again,” the company reports with plans to
open up to 30 more outlet in 2011, while looking to boost sales up another 5%. The home
improvement industry, however, has been hurt by high unemployment, declining home values,
tighter consumer credit, and modest growth of personal incomes and low housing turnovers. For
Lowe's, this has meant fewer big consumer-spending projects like fashion plumbing and cabinet
and countertop replacements; instead, there’ been more smaller projects for its customers: tools
and lawn and landscape projects, including routine maintenance and repairs. Lowe’s net earnings
topped $2 billion for the year, up by 12.4%. Comparative store sales gained by 1.3% for the year
versus a 6.7% slump in 2009. In August 2009, the company opened a new foreign market,
announcing its joint venture with Woolworths (also in this database), Australia’s largest retailer,
for a chain of home improvement stores, starting late in 2011. Lowe’s would own one-third of the
venture.