“Lowe’s Cos. is enhancing its website and equipping store employees with iPhones as the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer seeks to catch up to Home Depot Inc. (HD) and boost sales from its existing locations,” Chris Burritt reports for Bloomberg.
“Next month, Lowe’s will introduce its MyLowes online tool that customers will be able to use to store owner’s manuals, warranties and paint formulas, Chief Information Officer Mike Brown said in an interview,” Burritt reports. “The Mooresville, North Carolina- based company is arming workers with 42,000 iPhone 4s to answer shoppers’ questions and ring up purchases.”
Burritt reports, “The company is working to catch larger Home Depot, which gave employees Motorola Inc. handheld devices last year to let them spend more time helping customers and less on behind-the- scene duties.”
MacDailyNews Take: Motorola? Pfft. Lowe’s has done more than “catch up,” they’ve whipped right past Home Depot by choosing The King of All Smartphones.
Burritt reports, “Lowe’s is replacing 72,000 computer screens with flat panels in more than 1,700 stores, increasing bandwidth for transmitting data and adding Wifi for shoppers’ smartphones, Brown said. It’s adding thousands of items for sale online and last month introduced a Spanish-language version of lowes.com and an app for the iPhone and the iPod touch.”
“The Apple Inc. iPhones replace scanner guns based on technology dating back to the early 1990s,” Burritt reports. “Each store is getting about 25 of the devices which eventually will be enabled for mobile calling, e-emailing and text-messaging as well as processing credit and debit card purchases, said Brown, who has been with Lowe’s for 26 years.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Don E.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Apple seen pushing into new markets as patent app reveals more about portable point-of-sale system – September 8, 2011
Cool.
The idea is cool.
The deal with Lowes is that the controlling majority owner is Walmart. 😉
The Walmart ownership myth is just that. Do some research before repeating nonsense.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?Symbol=LOW
Even if it were true, so what?
Doesn’t he mean iPhone 5? What would the business case be to commit to technology that will be superseded in less than 30 days?
I’m sure he meant iPhone 4s. Why not? For how they’re going to be used, they should be more than sufficient. iPhone 4s have been proven reliable and they’re in abundance. They won’t need a faster processor because they’re not going to be used for games or intense graphics.
Exactly and they are getting better deal on the iPhone 4 …..
AND… at that quantity, they probably got them for free, and have a really good deal on monthly costs.
Exactly what everyone else said: because they’re cheaper right before a refresh, their dependability has already been proven, and most kinks have already been worked out or are at least well publicized. School districts do this all the time with computer labs.
I have worked at Lowe’s my self, and have always thought they have brought the customer experience to customer’s better then HD. Now that they are introducing the iPhone into the mix regardless of what version I can see them in the future surpassing HD and showing the rest of the “Home Improvement” industry how to do things.
Given the disinterest of our local Lowe’s staff to help customers, anything that can be done to enable the shopper to help themselves will be most welcome. Otherwise, we’ll keep going to the Home Depot where they seem to appreciate the customers who walk into the store.
Replace Lowe’s and Home Depot with AT&T and Verizon and I’ve seen that same argument before.
LOL. Got that right!
HD is run by a conservative, anti-union assat. They get none of my business anyway. It’s not surprising they made the asshat choice in mobile devices.
Go Lowe’s.
If they are staying in the building that presumably will have a fast WiFi, then why an iPhone and not an iPod touch? Or better, an iPad?
Good point. I thought the same thing. Maybe they don’t use VoIP, which many retailers have for their phone systems. Can’t imagine it being too costly in switching to VoIP. I work retail and really wish my co. would make this kind of adaptation.
too big to lug around.
easier to break in lumber area etc.
A iPad would be too large for an employee to carry around the store all day, having to set down to lift items off of shelves, etc. The scanner and credit card processor is probably not available for the iPad, where it is for the iPhone.
They may need a phone connection to swipe a credit card, but also a phone connection is more useful for text messaging, phone calls, etc. than using other apps. It’s simply easier to use the iPhone’s built-in capabilities than to try to keep other apps running, logins correct, and apps updated. Plus, it’s easier to monitor employees’ use of the iPhone when all the calls, texts, etc are listed on the company’s phone bill.
not sure about the scanner, they may just use the camera. RedLaser barcode scanner etc. (which IS the best of those type utilities)
the CC processor we already know is out there. Maybe not a Shell type like the iPhone/iPod has, but they do have those Dongles.
I am kinda curious why they didn’t go iPod touch though. I read the “phone calls, texts etc” but… If they have WiFi in the stores… the iPod can do that with apps. Maybe not the greatest for a “phone” call.
I wonder if they will be able to make calls.. may be restricted store numbers etc. and only a Customer number via a Link from E-mail etc. (no direct Keypad access to enter a number)
Great that they are doing this, but I do see some “issues” that may come up eventually.
But the iPad is a definite bad idea at a Home improvement store.. At least the iPhone is small enough to fit in a pocket, or the apron pouch.
Wow. Issues might come up at some point in the unspecified future. Well, hello, Nostradamus II.
HO-LY SH!T!!! If that doesn’t prove that the iPhone is a business device and not a toy, then I don’t know what will. 42,000 units is probably more than a whole production run of many Android smartphones. First they’ll use iPhones and then they’ll start adding iPads and Windows PCs will be nowhere’s to be seen.
The future is now!
Just came back from Lowe’s in Central Jersey and one of the employees was showing this iPhone to another. It looked like it was enclosed in a rugged heavy duty dark blue case,
That’s a smart decision. Why use that copy cat Android full of security holes. Fragmented and who really knows what it’s sending to Goople?
Windows and Android are so screwed when businesses make these decisions to use Apple to move beyond the PC.
I use both stores professionally in my work. I prefer the blue box over the orange one for customer service and their variety of SKU’s. That they are embracing Apple only reenforces my loyalty. I can see self checkout with your own phone in the future, which could be the next wave of POS. Go Lowe’s!
I’ll still never shop there, i don’t need to see everything with a Spanish translation at a store.
I second that. k*ll the mexicans!
You’re gonna run out of places to shop.
I primarily shop McLendons, which is one of the few “hardware” stores actually left.
Lowes and HD are not hardware stores, they are “home improvement centers” and its a big difference although between the two Lowe’s seems to stock oddball fasteners and more traditional hardware store items vs. HD.
Well perhaps Home Depot won’t be far behind… after all, no-one in their right mind would expect those Motorola devices to last longer than a year…
Employees may even be accidentally dropping them more often now too.. 😉
So, Lowes is the good store and Home Depot is the good enough store.
This is going to get me to bite the bullet and get their consumer credit card which gives you 5% off every purchase. Will save me big bucks on my renovation. Just have to make sure you pay it off every month…
I currently work at Lowes and the iphone is replacing our huge phones we carry now. We will also get certain apps about the department we are in. The are suppose to help us serve the customer better. And im pretty sure they all come standard with an otter box. they should be fun 🙂
Sounds great, too bad HD has better quality at lower prices (e.g., wood, commercial carpeting). We just finished our basement and started with Lowe’s because it was closer. Ended up switching to HD and wishing we had gone with them from the beginning.
ThisGuy/ThatGuy — if you continue with your infantile posts, we’ll have to ask you to return to your ancestral homeland.
I am having issues while login into myloweslife portal http://www.myloweslife.com . Can you assist me?
I feel great when i visit Lowes stores everytime. Their service and employees are really awesome. They suggested me to take lowes survey at official site https://www-lowescomsurvey.com/ for getting survey prize $500.
Employees from lowes store were suggested me to take the lowes customer feedback survey to get the gift card of $500. Visit official survey page https://www.lowescomsurveyss.com/