Consumer perceptions of value in relation to products of Home Depot versus Lowe's

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, , course: Marketing, language: English, abstract: The present paper focuses on Lowe's and Home Depot's value propositions and provides suggestions on improving Home Depots' value proposition. It examines the concepts and models such as the value creation framework and how this model is applied in the case of Home Depot. Then, it compares Home Depot's and Lowe's value propositions and finally it suggests a new value proposition and ways to implement it internally and externally. Nowadays, the home improvement market faces many challenges such as the weak housing market. Customers spend less in re-modelling their houses, travel less and it is difficult for them to get home equity loans. Consequently, Home Depot and Lowe's should offer a value proposition that adapts to these modern circumstances. Issues such as the strategy of the companies and their positioning and differentiation, matter for understanding how consumers make their purchasing decisions. By making use of theories on customer value as well as how changes in positioning and differentiation under the present macroeconomic environment (recession, weak housing market) happen the aim is to understand how Home Depot is able to achieve a differentiated value proposition.