Game Changer for the Home Improvement Market?

by Chad Symens

Lowe’s acquisition of Rona could be game changer for the home improvement market. Home Depot has 2,273 stores with 182 located in Canada. Before the Rona acquisition, Lowes had 1,840 stores including Orchard Supply stores. The Rona acquisition will add 496 stores to Lowe’s portfolio which means that once it’s finalized, Lowe’s will have 2,336 stores compared to Home Depot’s 2,273.

Nearly half (238) of the Rona stores are in Quebec which represents nearly 25% of the entire Canadian home improvement market; a market where Lowe’s does not currently operate any stores. The Canadian home improvement market is estimated at over C$45 billion and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2014 to 2018.  Lowe’s will be very well positioned to capture an oversized share of the growth compared to Home Depot with their 182 Canadian stores. In 2015, Home Depot acquired Interline Brands as a strategy to expand the pro division sales.  It will be interesting to see which strategy – investing in the pro business versus acquiring more physical store space – will turn out to be the better strategy.