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John M. - Communication Improvements at Lowe's John Mundy posted Feb 1, 2023 7:28 PMSubscribePreviousNext T

As an avid shopper at Lowe's, I have experienced a significant change regarding its communications strategy implemented in 2019. The problem Lowe's was having was that it had "lost expertise in-store operations and in merchandising, and failed to keep up with advancements in e-commerce, IT and supply chain." (Grill-Goodman, 2018) For example, there were system outages online during a Black Friday event, causing a rift in communication with the customer about what was available in the store and losing revenue. As several problems were discovered, the As-Is process was analyzed. Grill-Goodman explained that Lowe's developed a new mission statement to focus on four key areas: merchandising excellence, omnichannel (integrating different shopping methods, e.g., online, phone, or in a physical store), operational efficiency, and customer engagement. (2018)

A year later, Grill-Goodman updated her article on Lowe's strategy by including the IT system implemented to provide better communications. The first change was that it re-platformed its website using Google Cloud; this move would improve the retailer's agility by redesigning the online customer experience from search and navigation to checkout. (Grill-Goodman, 2019) Google Cloud also helped with merchandising and inventory improvements by giving its associates "the ability to view and update pricing and inventory on-the-fly" (PRNewswire, 2020), allowing in-store customers to see the most recent price changes that would have already been updated online. Additionally, the repository of pricing provided better visibility to merchants (suppliers) to understand the impact of those pricing decisions (Grill-Goodman, 2019), thus communicating back to vendors. Lastly, Lowe's used Google Cloud to enable their employees to "gain greater visibility into different aspects of the business and make more data-driven decisions... (which could) model everything from the impact of severe weather to demand forecasting." (PRNewswire, 2020)

Grill-Goodman's articles point out the adventure that took place between 2018 to the second half of 2019, providing that Lowe's saw immediate returns on their efforts as their sales increased 2.3% in its second quarter while seeing a 4% comp growth on its website. (2019) I can say that I might have only been a thousandth of a fraction of that growth, but they gained my respect and business by enabling themselves to grow through IT. This IT overhaul certainly shows through my own online and in-store experience from what it was upon moving nearby in 2017.

References:

Grill-Goodman, J. (2018).7 Ways Lowe's Plans to Use Retail Technology to Improve Operations.Retail Info Systems. https://risnews.com/7-ways-lowes-plans-use-retail-technology-improve-operations

Grill-Goodman, J. (2019).5 Key Technology Moves Lowe's is Making to Renovate its Retail Business.Retail Info Systems. https://risnews.com/5-key-technology-moves-lowes-making-renovate-its-retail-business

PRNewswire. (2020).Google Cloud Helps Lowe's Build a True 'Channel-Less' Customer Experience.Lowe's. https://corporate.lowes.com/newsroom/press-releases/google-cloud-helps-lowes-build-true-channel-less-customer-experience-01-13-20