As shopping preferences shifted during the pandemic, Lowe's accelerated the migration of Lowes.com to the cloud and rolled out curbside pickup to support sustained online growth. With the demand for contactless services here to stay, Lowe's latest investment will eliminate checkout time for customers and allow them direct access to pick up their orders and get in and out of the store faster during the busy holiday season. The secure, entirely digital experience relies on electronic technology in the lockers that generates a scannable barcode when an order is ready for pickup. Lowe's plans to have the innovative lockers installed in most major metro markets by Thanksgiving.
"Our No. 1 priority is making sure we are keeping things safe for our associates and customers while continuing to provide additional options to make it even easier to shop with us," said Joe McFarland, Lowe's executive vice president of stores. "With more than 60 percent of online orders picked up in our stores, this gives our customers one more option and the added convenience and flexibility to control how and when they get that order. This is a significant step in our relentless efforts to create a fast and frictionless shopping experience for today's time-pressed customers."
Lowe's customers can now quickly collect their online orders from self-service lockers near the front of stores in locations including Charlotte, Philadelphia and the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. After a Lowe's associate stages an online order, the customer receives an automated email notification with a one-time user barcode. The customer then completes the pickup by scanning the barcode at the locker using their smartphone without having to wait in line, receive assistance from a store associate or contact a touchscreen or keypad.
Research suggests that touchless retail services will continue to remain popular with consumers. A recent study by McKinsey & Company found that 60 percent of U.S. consumers who said they are using Buy Online, Pickup In Store plan to continue using the service even after the pandemic subsides.
Lowe's investment in pickup lockers builds on improvements the company has made to Lowes.com, in-store technology and its delivery network over the past 18 months to support elevated DIY and Pro customer demand.
Parcel Pending by Quadient, the nation's leading provider of package management solutions, is providing the retail locker solution for Lowe's, whose U.S. rollout will expand to Florida, Washington and Texas among other states in the coming weeks.
"It's an honor to be named Lowe's exclusive locker partner," stated Lori A. Torres, CEO and founder of Parcel Pending. "Our combined commitment to customer experience makes our Buy Online, Pickup in Locker (BOPIL®) solution a perfect fit for Lowe's. We're confident that their customers will enjoy being able to safely and securely retrieve their items at their convenience."
DISCLOSURE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements including words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "plan", "desire", "project", "estimate", "intend", "will", "should", "could", "would", "may", "strategy", "potential", "opportunity", "outlook", "guidance", and similar expressions are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve, among other things, expectations, projections, and assumptions about future financial and operating results, objectives, business outlook, priorities, sales growth, shareholder value, capital expenditures, cash flows, the housing market, the home improvement industry, demand for products and services, share repurchases, Lowe's strategic initiatives, including those relating to acquisitions and dispositions and the impact of such transactions on our strategic and operational plans and financial results. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties and we can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.
A wide variety of potential risks, uncertainties, and other factors could materially affect our ability to achieve the results either expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, changes in general economic conditions, such as the rate of unemployment, interest rate and currency fluctuations, fuel and other energy costs, slower growth in personal income, changes in consumer spending, changes in the rate of housing turnover, the availability of consumer credit and of mortgage financing, changes in commodity prices, changes or threatened changes in tariffs, outbreak of public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, availability and cost of goods from suppliers, changes in our management and key personnel, and other factors that can negatively affect our customers.
Investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties, risks and potential events including, but not limited to, those described in "Item 1A - Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and as may be updated from time to time in Item 1A in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or other subsequent filings with the SEC. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update these statements other than as required by law.
About Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving approximately 18 million customers a week in the United States and Canada. With fiscal year 2019 sales of $72.1 billion, Lowe's and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,200 home improvement and hardware stores and employ approximately 300,000 associates. Based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's supports the communities it serves through programs focused on creating safe, affordable housing and helping to develop the next generation of skilled trade experts. For more information, visit Lowes.com.
SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.
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