Lowe's 2014 Annual Report Download - page 11

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Part I
Item 1 - Business
General Information
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and subsidiaries (the Company or Lowe’s) is a Fortune® 100 company and the world’s second largest
home improvement retailer. As of January 30, 2015, Lowe's operated 1,840 home improvement and hardware stores,
representing approximately 201 million square feet of retail selling space. Lowe's is comprised of 1,793 stores located across
50 U.S. states, including 74 Orchard Supply Hardware (Orchard) stores in California and Oregon, as well as 37 stores in
Canada, and 10 stores in Mexico.
Lowe’s was incorporated in North Carolina in 1952 and has been publicly held since 1961. The Company’s common stock is
listed on the New York Stock Exchange - ticker symbol “LOW”.
See Item 6, “Selected Financial Data”, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for historical revenues, profits and identifiable
assets. For additional information about the Company’s performance and financial condition, see also Item 7, “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Customers, Market and Competition
Our Customers
We serve homeowners, renters, and professional customers (Pro customers). Retail customers, comprised of individual
homeowners and renters, complete a wide array of projects and vary along the spectrum of do-it-yourself (DIY) and do-it-for-
me (DIFM). The Pro customer consists of two broad categories: construction trades; and maintenance, repair & operations.
Our Market
We are among the many businesses, including home centers, paint stores, hardware stores, lumber yards and garden centers,
whose revenues are included in the Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers Subsector (444) of the
Retail Trade Sector of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), the standard used by Federal statistical
agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to
the U.S. business economy. The total annual revenue reported for businesses included in NAICS 444 in 2014 was $328 billion,
which represented an increase of 5.1% over the amount reported for the same category in 2013. The total annual revenue
reported for businesses included in NAICS 444 in 2013 was $312 billion, which represented an increase of 6.0% over the
amount reported for the same category in 2012.
NAICS 444 represents less than half of what we consider the total market for our products and services. The broader market in
which Lowe’s operates includes home-related sales through a variety of companies beyond those in NAICS 444. These consist
of other companies in the retail sector, including mass retailers, home furnishings stores, and online retailers, as well as
wholesalers that provide home-related products and services to homeowners, businesses, and the government. Based on our
analysis of the most recent comprehensive data available, we estimate the size of the U.S. home improvement market at $690
billion in 2014, comprised of $520 billion of product sales and $170 billion of installed labor sales. That compares with $640
billion total market sales in 2013, comprised of $480 billion of product sales and $160 billion of installed labor sales.
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