Why Lowe’s website will now be under constant renovation
You can walk into any Lowe’s location and find all you need to build a garden shed, a new bathroom or maybe even an entire house. Internally, however, the Lowe’s team is bringing together the tools necessary to construct a more customer-centric website.
As first reported on Modern Retail, Lowe’s is slowly rolling out a digital experience whereby an individual customer’s data (such as their location and purchase history) will personalize the website they encounter:
“If you bought an appliance, we’re not going to serve you up an appliance again, because you’re not going to buy another refrigerator,” a Lowe’s executive said. Instead, Lowe’s may recommend complementary purchases like water filters or kitchen upgrades, or surface new project ideas, he added.
There wasn’t a lot of detail about how Lowe’s is doing this, other than a reference to the “modular” approach of its web site that allows for greater flexibility and customization. No doubt AI will also play a lead role in synthesizing the relevant customer data to change its website on the fly.
From digital brochure to relationship center
Lowe’s strategy is interesting because it’s an attempt to change a brand website from a digital proxy for its in-store experience into a reflection of its relationship with each customer.
There have been some attempts at this before with other retailers, but it’s usually been relegated to showing a “MyXYZBrand” when customers log into an account profile and pulling up a dashboard for managing orders and points balances.
Lowe’s is also doing this at a time when AI is potentially pulling referral traffic away from brand websites. When customers search for a product today, for example, they are now more likely to see answers served up directly as a summary or overview rather than pushing them to a retailer’s URL.
This has put more pressure on brands to make visiting their websites worthwhile. If Lowe’s can pull this off, it will be treating those visitors akin to the way a store associate might recognize them as an in-store “regular.”
Owning your most owned channel
A more personalized website is also a way of doubling down on a brand’s most “owned” channel vs. focusing on social media. It’s telling customers their investment in immersing themselves in Lowe’s digital environment is worth it.
Of course, this all depends on customers being okay with having their data used for this purpose. Many have already been burned by half-baked personalization strategies from other retailers in the past. Most e-mail marketing, for instance, is still pretty generic and broad. The same goes for most brand texting and social media interactions.
Over time, the most significant measure of success here may be word of mouth: when someone notices their friend or family member’s Lowe’s site looks so unique they ask them more about it.
Most brands take a “build it and they will come” approach to their website. Lowe’s is exploring whether it’s better to attempt a continuous renovation instead.
