Gallery Furniture Founded in 1981, gallery Furniture has worked its way up the ladder in a systematic and well organized way to become one of the highest placed furniture houses in Houston. The founder of this firm is Jim Mclangvale and his name plus that of the organization has become more like an institution in Houston, well-known across the market and known for their ability to save the buyers money upon purchases. The enterprise has two locations in Houston, a fact that makes it one of the leading furniture retailers in Houston and takes up a whole 20% share of the furniture market in Houston. Apart from dominating the market, it also makes one of the highest sales per square foot in the entire nation. Gallery Furniture deals in mattresses of various brands, bedroom furniture, home office furniture, dinning room furniture as well as living room furniture. It is significant to note that the company suffered a serous setback in 2009 when fire engulfed one of its warehouses of about 100,000 square foot and also damage the North Freeway showroom (Hoover's Inc., 2014a).

This is the COE that will form the basis of the paper as it has enough grounds, in terms of financial standing and the Human Resources plus the significant market value and market presence that can allow a proper analysis and comparison within the market niche that it operates in. It also has sufficient information that is in the public domain hence the ease in accessing and using the information that involves even the strategic decisions and the approach to get the facts of the organization and the reason why it occupies the position it does in the market.

2.0 Gallery Furniture SWOT analysis

The SWOT analysis is important as it helps demystify the details that surround an organization. It gives the Strengths that the organization wields and lets it have the position it holds in the market, The Weaknesses that are within the organization that can make it lose its current position in the market, the Opportunities that exist in the market where the organization operates, and the Threats that exist within the market that the organization exists and operates in most of which are external.

2.1 Strengths

One of the most outstanding strengths that the organization has is the variety that they stock in terms of the furniture range they cover. Customers always find what they are looking for in the diverse categories of furniture. This helps consolidate the purchases of the clients who do not have to move from one shop to another and in the process Gallery Furniture losing clients and important sales.

The other strength is the massive financial base that is has which runs into millions of dollars. This gives it the ability to compete effectively with the competition in the market like the Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. And Inter-IKEA Systems B.V. This works as a strength when it comes to keeping at par with the competition marketing tactics, combating any unconventional methods in trying to either displace Gallery Furniture from the market or to dominate the market share.

The organization also ahs the advantage of the brand name that it has built over decades. This means that many clients can trust that brand name and pursue their products, in effect opening up the market share and clientele base for the business.

2.2 Weaknesses

One of the significant weakness that is within the organization is that bearing the large clientele base, it is almost impossible for a single client to get custom made furniture at the right price. The store tends to keep standard furniture that is supplied to all the customers who opt for it and not taking into account peculiar needs and interest of the customer who may want to have custom made furniture.

The other fundamental weakness, in relative comparison to other players in the same field is that Gallery Furniture is that it has stores only in Houston and has not had the chance, may be not in the strategic approach it has, to open other branches across other states. This means that once one moves away from Houston, they may cease to be the clients of this organization and shift their loyalty to another store. The danger with this is that the person may stick with this newly found store even after he moves back to Houston incase they have branches in Houston (Vitalsmarts, 2014).

2.3 Opportunities

Gallery Furniture has several opportunities that it can take up to expand its market base and expand the brand that it has. One of the greatest opportunities is the ability to take advantage of the trusted name brand and use it to open up other stores across the U.S.A. This will be a sure and secure venture since it has been known to successfully satisfy the customer needs in Houston and the good brand name will...

With the help of the internet, this Houston-based company can become a global business, making deliveries across the globe as far as Asia and Africa through the multiple logistics companies and receiving orders from all over through the internet.
The other opportunity is the changing digital world with the generation Y and X dominating the arena in almost everything. This presents the opportunity for furniture companies like Gallery Furniture to diversify their business in line with the emerging trends and the peculiar needs and tastes of the contemporary society. Once they move from the traditional furniture and venture into the contemporary times, there will be more demand and avenues for the organization to make money.

2.4 Threats

The treats that the organization face are mostly from the external sources. One of the serious threats to the business is the cost of production of furniture. With the global warming and the consequent need to conserve trees, there has been a move more towards plastic material for making furniture and recycled wood. These factors have forced the furniture industry to abandon the traditional signature wood finish and adopt the plastic and recycled wood that does not bring out the authenticity of furniture as was before. This has the potential to make the furniture industry less meaningful to many hence less viable.

The other threat to Gallery Furniture is the competition that has adopted foreign markets, apart from having their presence across the U.S.A. This means that, if they do not act in time, other companies like IKEA will dominate the extensive sectors of the market such that there will be no room for Gallery Furniture to expand.

The other threat is the increasing legislations that need to be complied to in order to be considered compliant. These range from the environmental rules especially for such furniture industries, to the laws on human resources, the laws on safety standards among others which make it quite expensive to operate in an environment such like the one Houston-based furniture company operates under.

3.0 Competitive analysis

There is need for gallery Furniture to know whom they are competing against in order to know how to operate within the given market or even whether they need to change their strategies in the market approach.

3.1 Primary competitor-Haverty Furniture Companies Inc.,

This is a company that sells a wide range of furniture that are domestic-based furniture. They stock from the middle to upper price range of furniture with a bias for the coastal, western and urban taste of furniture, though they strive to keep in touch with the taste of the market they find themselves in and tailor their products to that market. With the furniture accounting for 80% of the sales, the company deals in other home based accessories like bedding. Haverty has a presence in more than 15 Southern and the Midwestern states where they pride themselves of more than 120 stores. Having been founded in 1885, Haverty keeps expanding it presence since the inception and keeps replacing the smaller stores with bigger ones (Hoover's Inc., 2014b).

Company

Strengths

Weaknesses

Haverty Furniture Companies Inc.

Large variety of furniture

Defined looks hence forming a brand community

Many stores across 15 states

Lacks online presence.

Disadvantaged at the global level since has presence in USA only

Lacks the low range furniture

Inter-IKEA Systems B.V.

Global presence

More than 280 stores in 25 countries.

Great online presence

High costs due to self design furniture

Global presence makes some shun it for loyalty to indigenous brands.

The cultuiral differences across countries is a challenge.

3.2 Secondary competition

The secondary competition is Ashley furniture Homestore that has its presence within Houston and sells from the home furniture to the garden and office furniture. It prides in employing people from the community and promotes philanthropic activities within the community (Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., 2014).

The other competitor in this section is Bel Furniture which prides itself of being one of the fastest growing furniture stores that deals in all ranges of furniture. It considers itself a fair price store with several sales planned out in the course of the year where clients can get furniture at…