The Coe’s company has been in business since the 1950’s when the founder Terry Windham invested $600 in 32 chairs to rent out to auction houses. From there on, the business expanded into party equipment and sickroom gear. The founder further shifted the business into household goods and residential furniture in the 1970’s. The company has since been growing. Stan Windham, Terry’s son who now is the CEO of Coe’s, recently opened its 1000th store in South Tucson and the company is taking over $2 billion a year in revenues. Unlike their competitors, Coe’s has had an advantage in the market by always emphasizing ownership and offering monthly payments schedules with shorter contract periods. They trained their managers to only approve lease agreements for people who they were sure they could afford the payments. Also, one of their strengths was to be able to identify and target the customers who never before were interested in renting-to-own but due to the state that the economy was in, they were afraid to commit to big-ticket items and instead decided to rent-to-own. They also attracted customers by offering free delivery and free repairs with an option to return the item if customer was not able to make payments but when their financial situation improved they could resume the contract with no penalties. A weakness of Coe’s I would say would be that the company did not diversify their risk and solely built growth strategy only in the U.S. Except for Mr. Rental, Coe’s dos not have any other direct competitors in South Tucson. Yes, Wal-Mart is there as well but neither Mr. Rental nor Wal-Mart are the same as Coe’s. To distinguish itself from Mr. Rental, Coe’s offers shorter contract periods, free delivery and free repairs and Wal-Mart is not a rent-to-own company. However, there are other external factors to be considered and those being both opportunities and threats. Coe’s has been considering entering into the Mexican market, which they
The Coe’s company has been in business since the 1950’s when the founder Terry Windham invested $600 in 32 chairs to rent out to auction houses. From there on, the business expanded into party equipment and sickroom gear. The founder further shifted the business into household goods and residential furniture in the 1970’s. The company has since been growing. Stan Windham, Terry’s son who now is the CEO of Coe’s, recently opened its 1000th store in South Tucson and the company is taking over $2 billion a year in revenues. Unlike their competitors, Coe’s has had an advantage in the market by always emphasizing ownership and offering monthly payments schedules with shorter contract periods. They trained their managers to only approve lease agreements for people who they were sure they could afford the payments. Also, one of their strengths was to be able to identify and target the customers who never before were interested in renting-to-own but due to the state that the economy was in, they were afraid to commit to big-ticket items and instead decided to rent-to-own. They also attracted customers by offering free delivery and free repairs with an option to return the item if customer was not able to make payments but when their financial situation improved they could resume the contract with no penalties. A weakness of Coe’s I would say would be that the company did not diversify their risk and solely built growth strategy only in the U.S. Except for Mr. Rental, Coe’s dos not have any other direct competitors in South Tucson. Yes, Wal-Mart is there as well but neither Mr. Rental nor Wal-Mart are the same as Coe’s. To distinguish itself from Mr. Rental, Coe’s offers shorter contract periods, free delivery and free repairs and Wal-Mart is not a rent-to-own company. However, there are other external factors to be considered and those being both opportunities and threats. Coe’s has been considering entering into the Mexican market, which they