Swot analysis of hardware store

Hal Donovan started an ordinary hardware store, named Hal’s Hardware in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1988. He had been working during his summer vacations from college for a long-established hardware store and decided he liked the business. Hal’s Hardware developed an excellent reputation as a friendly neighborhood store. The store managers are all active in the community and the store regularly sponsors youth sports teams and supports local charities. When hired, salespeople go through a comprehensive training program that includes skill training in the areas of the store in which they will work (plumbing, electrical, power tools, flooring, garden, and so on), and they are trained in customer service skills. As a result of this focus on service, Hal’s Hardware became a community gathering place.

Hal offers classes and workshops for the homeowner and hobbyist three evenings each month and regularly schedules seminars for professional customers on weekday mornings. Many of these workshops and seminars are underwritten and taught by manufacturers to promote their products, but an increasing number are being created by Hal’s Hardware staff members.

In recent years, Hal has become concerned that the business is no longer growing. The store is facing increasing competition from hardware chains such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. These national chains have opened many new stores, and they are larger, carry more items, and offer lower prices on some items. The competition is fierce; for example, Hal’s Hardware closed its lumber department because of this competition. The national chains buy lumber in such large quantities that they can offer far lower prices. Hal matched his larger competitors’ prices, but found he was unable to earn a profit on lumber sales and that department consumed a large amount of floor space in the store.

Hal was worried that this sort of problem could develop in other departments, so he began looking for ways to add value to the customer experience, especially in ways that the national chains were not willing or able to do. For example, Hal has found that many people want to try out a new power tool in person before they spend hundreds of dollars on a purchase. Thus, Hal’s Hardware created a tool demonstration area staffed with salespeople who are experts in power tool operation. For each major type of power tool (drills, power saws, joiners, grinding tools, and so on), Hal created a small booklet of hints for using that type of tool. Hal’s salespeople give these booklets to customers as free handouts. They also sell Hal’s own low-cost instructional DVDs.