A Lowe’s in Virginia. The company’s recently introduced DIY loyalty program is available in app, online and in stores. Nate Delesline III/Retail Dive
Reporter
Source: www.retaildive.com, September 2024

In a first, the company is joining other retailers in offering early deals for loyalty program customers.

Dive Brief:

  • Lowe’s announced Thursday its inaugural shopping event exclusively for members of its free loyalty program, the home improvement retailer said in a press announcement. MyLowe’s Rewards week is set to run from Oct. 10 through Oct. 16.
  • The promotion, which is meant to strengthen the retailer’s connection with customers, will offer up to 40% off select items across categories purchased in-store or online, including appliances, kitchen and bath, paint, home decor and holiday.
  • Loyalty members can also earn points toward MyLowe’s Money on eligible purchases, free DIY workshops, weekly savings with member gifts throughout the year and free shipping once they spend $500 in eligible annual purchases.

Dive Insight:

Lowe’s joins a growing list of major retailers — including Target, Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy — that are promoting major sales weeks ahead of the traditional start of the critical holiday shopping season in late November.

During the upcoming six-day event, Lowe’s announced that offers on select items will include 40% off tools, tool storage and ladders; 40% off bathroom products; 30% off decor and holiday items and 20% off storage and organization. The retailer is also offering $50 off all Whirlpool washer and dryer pairs.

Lowe’s first launched its MyLowe’s Rewards loyalty program in select markets in January and made it available nationwide in March. Amanda Bailey, vice president of customer marketing and loyalty for Lowe’s, told Retail Dive in an interview that the company is pleased with the response so far to the program and is seeing “a lot of great early adoption from customers.”

Members who spend $50 or more in a single transaction on qualifying items during the October event can also earn $5 in MyLowe’s Money, which is equivalent to 500 bonus points, the company said. MyLowe’s Rewards is accessible through the retailer’s app, website and in-store.

Target, Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy offer free and paid tiers in their loyalty programs. Bailey said the company is watching what’s happening with other retailers’ loyalty programs that offer a paid tier but didn’t answer directly if Lowe’s might do the same with its DIY-focused loyalty program in the future. She also declined to say how many members MyLowe’s Rewards has attracted so far. Bailey did confirm that Lowe’s MVPs Pro Rewards loyalty program will continue. It’s targeted toward professional customers.

“The launch of MyLowe’s Rewards really marked our foray into the loyalty space for homeowners, which represent a significant part of our business,” Bailey said. Others in the home improvement space offer similar offerings, including Ace Hardware and rival Home Depot, which expanded its pro-focused loyalty program last year with new membership tiers and benefits.

Looking ahead, near term demand in home improvement is likely to remain soft through the rest of this year and possibly into early next, TD Cowen analysts led by Max Rakhlenko said in a Tuesday note published after the Home Improvement Insights Summit.

Although pro project demand has been an industry bright spot, TD Cowan said its own surveys, along with data from Zonda and the National Association of Home Builders, indicates homeowners appear to be scaling down the size of their projects. They said Zonda found a double digit decline in home improvement work over $20,000.

That trend “is a benefit for [Lowe’s] which focuses on smaller pros and has seen better performance than [Home Depot] which has more exposure to medium and bigger pros,” Rakhlenko said.