category killer

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A category killer is a retailer, often a big-box store, that specializes in and carries a large product assortment of a given category.{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Kenneth E. |url= |title=Competing With the Retail Giants: How to Survive in the New Retail Landscape |date=1995 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=0-471-05440-2 |location=New York |oclc=31901604}}{{Rp|pages=109–111}} Through their wide merchandise selections, low pricing, deep supply, large buying power, and market penetration, they have a comparative advantage over other, smaller retailers, and can greatly reduce the sales of rival retailers within that category, in the area{{Cite book |last=Kraft |first=Manfred |url= |title=Retailing in the 21st Century: Current and Future Trends |last2=Mantrala |first2=Murali K. |publisher=Springer-Verlag |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-540-72003-4 |edition=2nd |location=Berlin |pages=127, 133 |oclc=567361303}} and beyond it.

In essence, they are a price- or discount-based specialist mass-retailer.{{Rp|page=13}} Chains such as OfficeMax, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Hobby Lobby have been considered category killers.{{cite web |last1=Lal |first1=Rajiv |last2=Alvarez |first2=Jose B |date=10 October 2011 |title=Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink |url=http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/retailing-revolution-category-killers-on-the-brink |work=Working Knowledge |publisher=Harvard Business School |access-date=16 November 2016}}

Once typically found in power centers, increasingly they are found in or adjacent to (as an outbuilding of) repurposed traditional malls.

Large category killer stores are mostly in mid- and large-sized cities, because a large population is required to be feasible.{{Rp|page=33}}

Impact

Local merchants in cities with category killers "may suffer a substantial reduction in sales," and stores in a wider radius can be affected by the draw.{{Rp|pages=109–111}} Between 1983 and 1993, Iowans spent 31% less in hardware stores, translating to a loss of 37% in the same time to those stores as a result of category killer stores.{{Rp|pages=67–68, 89}}

Canadian retailers

class="wikitable"

|+Examples of retailers considered to be category killers

!Retailer

!Category

The Home Depot

| rowspan="1" |Home and construction

Best Buy

| rowspan="1" |Electronics

Toys "R" Us

|Toys

Indigo Books and Music

| rowspan="1" | Books

Staples

| rowspan="1" |Office supplies

Shoppers Drug Mart

| rowspan="1" |Drug Stores

PetSmart

| rowspan="1" |Pet supplies

Party City

| rowspan="1" |Party supplies

Dollarama

| rowspan="1" |Dollar Stores

United States retailers

Sporting goods stores that are category killers range in footprint from {{convert|10000|to|40000|sqft}}.{{Rp|page=37}}Home Depot carries 30,000 items in {{convert|100000|sqft|adj=on}} stores.{{Cite book |last=Michman |first=Ronald D. |title=Retailing Triumphs and Blunders: Victims of Competition in the New Age of Marketing Management |last2=Greco |first2=Alan James |publisher=Quorum Books |others=Alan James Greco |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-4294-7347-7 |location=Westport, Conn. |oclc=232160862}}{{Rp|page=148}}

class="wikitable"

|+Examples of retailers considered to be category killers{{Rp|page=4}}

!Retailer

!Category

!Defunct?

The Home Depot

| rowspan="4" |Home and construction

Lowe's

Builders Square

|1999 (stores)
2009 (brand)

Home Quarters

|1999