Technology

Lowe’s has a lot of technology that can be found in any retail store such as barcode readers, computers, scanners, etc. Lowes also uses some more advanced and more recent technologies such as the internet and self checkout systems that were both mentioned previously. All of these things while some may be somewhat recent inventions are pretty basic and can be found anywhere. What really is separating Lowe’s from other home improvement retail stores is there new inventory systems and how they use it. Lowe’s teamed up with Celarix Collaborative Technology to develop a global supplier network not to long ago. This system improves communication with partners, decrease inventory in the pipeline, provide more accurate shipments, and improve efficiency. Lowe's uses “Celarix Connection” and “Celarix Management” to connect with its supply chain partners and give the company real-time visibility of all inbound shipments, moving through its inventory routes. Celarix's solutions enables Lowe's shippers and inventory managers to connect with the company's Asian factory suppliers, trading suppliers, and transportation partners, empowering them to communicate directly with one another throughout the entire process, from the time products leave the manufacturing facility to the time they arrive at each Lowe's distribution center. Lowes invested a lot of capital into this project but it’s an investment that is paying off and is expected to keep paying off. Using such an advanced system surely gives Lowe’s an edge other home improvement stores don’t have.

Service Matrix And Customer Contact

The services that go along with Lowe’s are pretty standardized for the most part. Checking out items is the same for every customer. It’s basically set up like an assembly line. There are several checkout stations, the customers line up next to the checkout stations and are dealt with in an assembly line fashion. Once they reach the employee at the counter they will check out their items. This system is highly standardized, very repetitive, simple, and gives the customer low decision making power. This was designed to deal with a large amount of customers in the quickest way using the least amount of time as possible. This process of highly standardized interaction with customers is classified on the service matrix as provider routed or standardized service and it matches the process that Lowes uses to interact with their customers perfectly. Since Lowe’s is a huge retail store it needs to use this service in order to deal with its huge demand. As mentioned before Lowe’s is in the process of becoming even more standardized as it eliminates some of the interaction between employees and customers and replaces that interaction with machines.
The self checkout systems are also effecting the way customers make contact with the company along with something that made an even more dramatic change in the way customers contact the company, the Internet. Traditionally when a customer would go to Lowe's to buy a product they would have a face to face type of customer contact where the employee could give basic information to the customer. This is a very high level of customer contact. There is a lot of room for customization, and change. While the productivity is low it can make the customer happy because they will get the information they want in making a purchase. Today this process has changed to the point where there is virtually no contact between employees and the customer. Today the process has changed so much that the customer doesn't even need to leave the house. Thanks to recently new inventions like the internet and the increasing use of computers in peoples everyday lives a lot of customers can buy just about anything on Lowe's website that they could at the actual store. In many cases the products online are actually cheaper than what they would cost in the store. The internet has really changed the way customer deal with companies in a huge way and the trend seems to be going more and more into shopping online everyday.

Service Product Bundle

When most people think of going to a retail store like Lowe’s they probably think that there aren’t many services involved during the experience. For the most part that’s true but no industry is one hundred percent goods or one hundred percent services. A company can rely heavily on goods but they will still need to provide at least some basic services.
Lowe’s, being a home improvement retail store, relies pretty heavily on selling goods. Most of their business is in selling tools, wood, nails and other home improvement items. However, there are also several services that are provided to you when you buy any item in the store. If you are in the store for a while looking for a specific product and you can’t find it there are employees throughout the store that can help you find what you are looking for. They can also give you information about the item and tell you how to use it. When you are finally ready to make a purchase then you are provided with another service, another employee will check out your items. There are also some services that are provided for your convenience that are not as easy to notice such as stocking and the overall layout of the store. These employees like the ones that are helping you find what you are looking for or the employees that check out your items in the store are providing you with Implicit or Psychological services and explicit services which contribute to your feeling about the store and give you something tangible.
While Lowes may provide a few services they are still making even more of a shift to becoming more associated with selling goods and less associated with services. Just recently many retail stores have been adding self checkout systems to their stores which cuts out the service of having an employee check out your item.