Lowe's Revamp

After a disappointing second quarter 2011, Lowe's is switching to an 'everyday low pricing' formula, more products available on its new website, and small engine and power equipment repair services to bring in more customers and improve the bottom line.

As for inventory, Lowe's is implementing a new strategy called 'integrating planning and execution' (IPE) that creates an 'institutional memory to maintain local assortment decisions when merchants change' -- otherwise known as getting the right product to the right store at the right quantity to reflect national and local tastes. It's hardly revolutionary in retail, but in a test store, Lowe’s removed much of the standard racking and experimented with more open vignettes, expanded endcaps, and 'drop zones.' The idea is to get customers to buy across product lines at once. Lowe's noted that more than 80% of the merchandising teams have product line reviews in process using these IPE techniques.