Tag: Lowes

Lowe’s Becomes NFL Official Sponsor

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Helen Thomas - Blog

January 22, 2019

Lowe’s has reached a massive deal with the National Football League that makes it the league’s official home-improvement retail sponsor.

The exclusive multiyear partnership will give Lowe’s branding rights and marketing opportunities at key events including the Super Bowl, the NFL draft, and the NFL combine, Lowe’s announced Tuesday. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

The deal could give Lowe’s major marketing leverage over its biggest home-improvement competitor, Home Depot.

“This was a very big strategic move for us” says Jocelyn Wong, chief marketing officer at Lowe’s.

In tandem with the partnership, Lowe’s is kicking off a new marketing campaign designed to attract new customers. The campaign specifically targets “heavy do-it-yourselfers” — those customers who take on complicated and highly technical projects — and home-improvement professionals like contractors.
“As we were looking at 2019 and beyond marketing plans we realized we had an opportunity to expand our customer base,” Wong said.

“We do really well with light-DIY customers and want to expand with heavier-DIY customers.”

This strategy appears to be a direct appeal to Home Depot’s customer base. Home-improvement professionals tend to prefer shopping at Home Depot over Lowe’s, according to research by Wedbush Securities.

Professional contracts account for 20% to 25% of sales at Lowe’s and 45% of sales at Home Depot, Wedbush Securities’ Seth Basham told Business Insider’s Áine Cain.
The tagline of the new campaign, “Do It Right,” is designed to appeal to customers who take pride in their home-improvement projects and “believe anything worth doing is worth doing right,” Wong said.
To reach this customer, the new ads will take on a “grittier” and more “authentic” tone than the company’s past campaigns, which were more “whimsical” in nature, Wong said.
“We want Lowe’s to be the place for those people who are going to go the extra mile to do it right,” she said.

This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com.

New CEO, Lowe’s Helps California Wildfire Victims

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Helen Thomas - Blog

New Lowe’s CEO, Marvin Ellison, having been on the job only since June, joined the team at their headquarters in Mooresville to load 15,000 disaster-relief buckets for California wildfire victims, and for future natural disaster preparedness. 1,400 employees are helping to stuff the buckets, which are at a cost of $700,000 and being paid for by Lowe’s and its vendors. 2,000 buckets are set to ship to California, while the rest will be stockpiled for any future need. The buckets contain work gloves, scrub brushes, insect repellant and dust masks. “This is a tremendous effort and being new to the company it warms my heart to see so many of us helping out so many people in need,” he says.

As part of his leadership plan, Ellison eliminated top level management roles and brought in new executive, Joseph McFarland III. McFarland comes from J.C. Penney and prior to two years there as executive vice president, had a two-decade career with The Home Depot. He served as president of the northern and western divisions. Ellison said in a news release that these changes will allow Lowe’s to “drive operational excellence.”

Lowe’s and Sherwin-Williams Partnership Expands

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Helen Thomas - Blog

Following the February 2018 announcement that The Sherwin-Williams Company, Consumer Brands Group would become the sole nationwide supplier to Lowe’s US stores, today the DIY retailer announced a new line of Valspar exterior stain products. The Valspar stain will come in 50 colors and is offered exclusively at Lowe’s stores and on Lowes.com. The move is designed to streamline and simplify paint and stains to be easier for customers to buy and associates to sell. Other brands Lowe’s offers from Sherwin-Williams include HGTV Home, Purdy, Krylon, Minwax, Thompson’s Water Seal, and Cabot.

“We strive to provide endless color to our customers, and our new product line is no exception. Valspar stain is available in a wide range of colors – both expected and unexpected – because not only do consumers look to Valspar for quality products, but also as the authority on color,” says Andy Bottoni, Director of Marketing at The Sherwin-Williams Company, Consumer Brands Group. “With this new product line, we hope to inspire more creativity when it comes to outdoor color.”

Home Depot and Lowe’s Stock Growth in Last 6 Months

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Helen Thomas - Blog

With improved employment levels and the housing market booming above 2006 levels, home improvement retail stocks have continued to grow. The Home Depot has outpaced the S&P 500 in the last 6 months, growing 39.3% versus the home improvement retail’s gain of 37.7% and S&P 500’s increase of 13.7%. The company attributes their success to maximizing square footage initiatives in current stores versus opening new ones, and focusing on the customer experience and buy online – deliver from store capabilities. Home Depot has been reporting strong numbers for the past 5 years, with record breaking year over year comps the past two quarters.

Back in October, The Home Depot stocks were trading at $163 and Lowe’s was only at $80, but since then Lowe’s is up 29% and Home Depot is up 21%. Home Depot has more physical stores in the US, with 2283 compared to 2144 at Lowe’s. Revenues through Q3 were much higher than Lowe’s but several other factors that can affect stock are looked at. As of Q3, gross margin for Home Depot was 34.1% and Lowe’s was 34.2%. Both CEOs are accredited for strategies that provide shareholder returns while minimizing risk. While The Home Depot’s revenues overall are higher, at $77B at Q3 compared to Lowe’s $53B, the average ticket is higher at Lowe’s, at $71.60 compared to Home Depot at $63.55.

Today Home Depot stock (HD) is reporting at $204.45 and Lowe’s (LOW) at $107.11.

Sources: Nasdaq.com, Seekingalpha.com

Lowe’s Completes Acquisition for Maintenance Supply Headquarters

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Helen Thomas - Blog

As part of an overall drive to broaden their relationship with pro customers and better serve their needs, Lowe’s Companies has finalized the acquisition of Maintenance Supply Headquarters for $512 million. The Houston-based company is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products serving the multifamily housing industry. The deal is a next logical step for Lowe’s, which acquired Central Wholesalers, an MRO distributor in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, in November 2016.

“We are delighted to officially welcome Maintenance Supply Headquarters and their talented team into the Lowe’s family,” said Michael Tummillo, senior VP of Lowe’s pro sales. “Together, Maintenance Supply Headquarters and Central Wholesalers expand Lowe’s ability to serve the highly attractive and growing multifamily housing industry while strengthening our foundation for future growth with enhanced product and service offerings. With this latest transaction, we look forward to delivering even more value for our pro customers.”

With a portfolio of more than 5,300 products and value-added services for maintaining and renovating multifamily properties, Maintenance Supply Headquarters operates 13 distribution centers primarily in the western, southeastern and south central U.S. With the acquisition now complete, Lowe’s MRO business now includes 16 distribution centers generating more than $400 million in incremental annual sales.

Source: Lowes.com