Lowe's Expands Partnership With Porch.com

April 29, 2014

Lowe's and Porch.com have expanded their strategic partnership to the more than 1,700 Lowe's home improvement stores across the U.S.

Every Lowe's store in the country now features Porch as the in-store resource to help homeowners find the right home improvement professionals for nearly any project outside of Lowe's current installation services.  In addition, home improvement service professionals can sign up for a free Porch profile to help increase the exposure of their business to homeowners in need of their specific services.

"While we have already been able to help our customers with projects like installing flooring or remodeling a kitchen, our partnership with Porch means we can now guide customers to find help for nearly any home improvement service, from routine maintenance to dream projects," said Jay Rabello, VP new business development and corporate innovation at Lowe's.  "Homeowners trust Lowe's products and project expertise, and now that relationship can extend to the search for home improvement pros by providing a highly personal, localized experience through Porch."

Porch was first introduced at Lowe's stores in the Carolinas and the Seattle area in January.  If a Lowe's customer needs a professional for a service Lowe's does not currently offer, such as handyman, painting or landscaping services, employees can access the Porch network of pros on their mobile devices and in-store terminals to identify local providers.

"From day one, Porch has been on a mission to make home improvement simple, easy, and delightful," said Matt Ehrlichman, CEO of Porch.  "We launched our product just over six months ago and thanks to the enthusiastic feedback and support of our customers, Porch is becoming a true center of gravity for home improvement professionals and homeowners, enabling them to connect and work together like never before.  Our team is excited to continue our collaboration with Lowe's to improve every facet of the home improvement experience."

The partnership with Porch is the latest in a series of technology initiatives Lowe's has introduced to enhance the in-store support employees can offer customers, including equipping employees with iPhones to help customers access information, view how-to videos or locate product in the store efficiently.

Source: Retailing Today 

Lowe's Appoints Chief Customer Officer

March 4, 2014

Lowe's has named Michael A. Jones as the company's chief customer officer, effective April 30.  Jones currently serves as Lowe's chief merchandising officer, overseeing the full merchandise offering for all Lowe's U.S. stores and Lowes.com, as well as all global sourcing activities.

Jones will succeed Gregory M. Bridgeford, who plans to retire after 32 years with the company. In his new role, Jones will be responsible for overseeing customer experience design, merchandising, marketing and communications and digital interfaces.

"I am confident that Mike is the right person to succeed Greg as chief customer officer.  During the past 14 months, Mike and Greg have worked closely together and have made terrific progress in further elevating and enhancing the Lowe's customer experience," said chairman, president and CEO Robert A. Niblock.  "In assuming this new role, Mike brings extensive leadership experience, expertise in key product categories relevant to the home improvement business, understanding of the need for vendor collaboration, and a clear focus on the customer.  We look forward to his further contributions to Lowe's."

Jones joined Lowe's in January 2013 with more than a decade of executive leadership experience in sales, service, product management and international business, serving with Husqvarna as president and EVP for North and Latin America from 2009 until joining the company in 2013.  Before his role at Husqvarna, Jones spent 15 years at General Electric, where his most recent role was general manager of global cooking products from 2007 to 2009.  Jones received a bachelor's degree in business administration from California Coast University in Santa Ana, California.

"At the same time, Lowe's thanks Greg for his extraordinary dedicaton to the company throughout the past three decades," added Niblock.  "As Lowe's has grown from a regional hardware chain in the 1980s to the nation's second-largest home improvement company today, Greg has been a valued member of our organization.  Two years ago, I asked Greg to delay his retirement plans and assume the role of chief customer officer to lead our efforts as we became a more customer-focused enterprise.  Greg has built a world-class team that is executing on our strategy, so that the timing is now right for Greg to pass the baton to Mike.  We wish greg all the best in his retirement."

Bridgeford was promoted to chief customer officer in 2012, after serving as EVP of business development since 2004.  Bridgeford joined Lowe's in 1982 as executive assistant to the chairman, and has served in a variety of increasingly responsible positions, including VP of corporate development, SVP of merchandising/general merchandising manager, SVP of marketing, and SVP of business improvement, and real estate, engineering and construction.  Bridgeford has a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Virginia and earned an MBA from Wake Forest University.

Source: Retailing Today

Lowe's Delivers In Q4 Despite Severe Winter Weather

February 26, 2014

Severe winter weather was no match for Lowe's in the fourth quarter.  The company reported sales of $11.7 billion, up 5.6% from the same quarter last year, as comps increased 3.9%.  The company also posted fourth-quarter net earnings of $306 million, up 6.3%.

"During the quarter, we delivered solid performance in core home improvement categories, balancing softer sales of seasonal gifts and holiday decorations," said CEO Robert Niblock.  "When extreme winter weather arrived late in the quarter, our distribution network responded quickly and efficiently to move product where it was most needed."

For the full year, sales reached $53.4 billion, a 5.7% increase over 2012 sales.  Comps for the year finished at 4.8%, as net income surged 16.7% to $2.3 billion.

Looking ahead, Lowe's expects total sales for fiscal 2014 to increase about 5%, and comparable store sales to increase about 4%.  The company expects to open about 15 home improvement stores and five Orchard Supply hardware stores.

Niblock added that he was pleased with the progress Lowe's made during 2013 and that the retailer continues to "transform."

As of January 31, Lowe's operated 1,832 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Source: Retailing Today

California Market Guide

The Accelerated Analytics team is pleased to announce the California market guide is complete and ready for download.  This valuable guide provides DIY / Hardline vendors with detailed insights into the California market.  

Click here to buy now!

The California market, with a population of 32,253,956 and total housing units of 13,680,081, represents a significant portion of both Home Depot and Lowe’s business in the United States. In fact, Home Depot drives about 10% of total revenue from California, and Lowe’s drives about 6% of its total revenue from California.

The California market report provides vendors with detailed research on California which can be used for understanding sales trends and for future planning. 

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Unemployment
• Construction activity
• Drought conditions
• Heating degree days
• Cooling degree days
• 2014 to 2017 economic forecast
• Demographics by store including: population, median age, percentage of high school graduate or higher, total housing units, median household income, foreign born population, individuals below the poverty line, consumer spending per household. 
• Store grade (A, B, C, D) assigned to each Home Depot and Lowe’s store based on 2013 dollars sold for all Accelerated Analytics vendors.
• Tutorial on how to conduct store analysis and assign store grades for your products.
• Comparison of store grades in zip codes with both a Home Depot and Lowe’s store. 
• Password for an interactive map of Home Depot and Lowe’s stores in California colored by store grade.
• Excel data file with data for each store which can be used for additional analysis.

Click here to buy now!

Lowe's Gears Up For Its Busiest Season

February 19, 2014

A week after rival Home Depot announced plans to hire 80,000 seasonal spring employees, Lowe's announced its plans to hire approximately 25,000 seasonal employees at its U.S. stores for the busy spring season.

Seasonal jobs available are focused on customer support and include cashiers, lawn and garden employees, loaders and stockers.

The number of hours worked per week will vary based on the needs of individual stores, but, on average, seasonal employees could work an estimated 20 or more hours per week.  The length of the seasonal employment varies; however, seasonal employees are most needed in spring and summer months, typically from February until September.  The company plans to hire and train new seasonal employees first in areas where the climate has begun to warm, and continue on a market-by-market basis by climate and geography.  Hiring has already begun in Florida, south Texas, Arizona and southern California where warmer, spring-like temperatures are arriving.

"Warmer temperatures stir homeowners to get started on projects they've planned during winter and they are often challenged when choosing the right products and solutions for their homes," said Scott Purvis, VP, human resources, operations.  "As spring arrives, our stores are stocked with popular new tools, lawn and garden, paint and patio products.  We want our stores staffed with knowledgeable employees who provide exceptional service and make shopping and selection easier for our customers."

Source: Retailing Today

Lowe's Partners With Porch.com

January 15, 2014

In an effort to expand its service capabilities, Lowe's has partnered with Porch.com, a home improvement network that connects homeowners with over 1.5 million professionals.  The partnership aims to connect customers with home improvement pros for nearly any project outside of what Lowe's currently offers as part of its installation services. 

"Working with Porch is another great example of how Lowe's supports our customers throughout every step of the home improvement journey," said Jay Rebello, VP new business development and corporate innovation at Lowe's.  "By partnering with Porch, Lowe's can help our customers achieve their home improvement dreams by providing them with the confidence of knowing who their neighbors have used successfully, and benefit our professional customers by providing them greater opportunities to grow their business."

"For millions of people, the home is the biggest investment of their lives.  Home improvement projects are an essential part of owning or renting a home - finding the right professionals should be easy, delightful, and connected," said Matt Ehrlichman, CEO of Porch.  "Now, Lowe's customers can not only buy high-quality products to make their home improvement projects a reality, they can connect directly with local professionals their neighbors have used."

To be introduced at Lowe's stores, the partnership will make its first touchdown in 139 stores in the Carolinas and the Seattle metro area.

Source: Retailing Today

The Home Depot 2013 Year in Review and 2014 Guidance

Home Depot hosted a 2013 investor conference call which had a wealth of information about managements review of the year and forecasting for 2014.  Here some highlights for The Home Depot’s 2014 forecast:

• Sales growth of approximately 5%
• 8 new stores most of which will be in Mexico.
• Operating margin expansion of approximately 70 basis points
• Share repurchases of approximately $5.0 billion
• Diluted EPS growth after share repurchases of approximately 17%
• Capital spending of approximately $1.5 billion.

The numbers above and managements discussion of the numbers and the business strategy make clear they feel their opportunity is in maximizing sales and productivity of their existing footprint and not in expanding the footprint.   Frank Blake commented “New store growth no longer plays a dominant or even significant role in sales growth or capital allocation.  U.S. and Canadian markets are effectively saturated.”  I wonder how the folks over at Lowe’s feel about that observation since their footprint is significantly smaller than The Home Depot.  Mr. Blake continued, “Since our June 2012 conference we exited our big box stores in China and we have no intent to build stores in other areas of the world and here is the main reason why.  In the second quarter of 2013 the three-months of May, June and July we grew comps in our U.S. business by $2 billion in three months.  A wildly successful venture into a foreign county might yield $2 billion in sales after a decade of effort.  So opportunity and capital efficient strongly argue for intense focus here.”

Other interesting stats from the conference call:

• 15 million visits per week to homedepot.com
• Marvin Ellison commented stores stock about 35,000 SKU’s.
• Pro is 3% of THD customers, but 35% of sales.
• The program launched for small engine repair in about 1000 stores has repaired over 600,000 units YTD 2013. 
• THD historically ran 40% of store labor on customer service and 60% operational activities.  The have successfully flipped this after a multi-year
• Craig Menear commented the aging boomer pollution are electing more ‘do it for me’ as they retire which represents an opportunity for the THD service business and growth of their pro channel.  About 10,000 boomers retire each day.   Emerging Gen Y group is at the early stages of DIY and THD must instill confidence and in product and projects.
• The bifurcation of income in the U.S. creates opportunities for cost conscious consumers and luxury consumers. 
• TTI (an Accelerated Analytics customer) was discussed as an example of a strategic supply partnership that is creating additional value. 
• Mr. Menear comments that “We are a branded house and we intend to remain a branded house to satisfy our customers preferences” when discussing the THD private label portfolio.
• MET is approximately 20,000 associates.
• Localization of assortments has been proven to help sales and will accelerate in 2014.   Mr. Menear “So we’ve recently begun to use our more sophisticated assortment in clustering tools and there is a lot of runway ahead of us as we integrate this into our core merchandising activities”. 
• One-third of online orders are getting picked up or fulfilled out of a physical store. 
• Mark Holifield gave three key goals of the supply chain:
  • Must be in stock [see Accelerated Analytics exceptions reports]
  • Must optimize inventory productivity to drive the best use of working capital [see Accelerated Analytics SKU assortment reports, SKU sales summaries with GMROI]
  • Must be the leader at having the right product at the right place at the right time as the lowest cost in the industry.  [See Accelerated Analytics SKU assortment analysis by market & store]
  • Management expects fiscal 2013 sales to increase by approximately 5.6%, with comp sales growth on a 52 week like-for-like basis of approximately 7%.
  • Management believes the health of the home improvement market rest on two drivers; GDP growth and housing.  U.S. GDP is forecasted to grow about 3% over the next several years based on the Federal Open Market Committee.  Housing turnover is expected to moderate towards the historical average of about 4.6% of units.  Housing prices are up about 11% this year but they are still 23% off their peak back in 2006.  Once homeowners view their homes as an investment, and not an expense management believes they will spend more money on their homes. 
  • In the third quarter of 2013 we saw a double-digit growth in premium price point product. 
  • Approximately 63% of all homes in the U.S. are more than 27 years old.  As homes ages they need repair, which speaks to continued growth in maintenance and repair categories.
  • Management believes we’ve moved past the workout stage of the housing recovery that we shared with you back in June 2012 and we are not in phase II of the recovery.  In stage II of the recovery, we expect ourselves to grow at a rate of GDP plus 2%.  

Home Depot wins Black Friday

Home Depot wins Black Friday battle with Lowe’s after it landed more market share of Black Friday weekend traffic, 5.6% vs. 4.2%, while spending roughly the same amount on TV advertising in the weeks leading up to the period. Lowe's spent $4M for each percentage point of market share (of the top 50 retailers) while Home Depot only doled out $2.9M.

Lowe's Enters into Purchase Agreement with Orchard Supply Hardware

MOORESVILLE, N.C., Jun 17, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW +0.51%  , the world's second largest home improvement retailer, today announced it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Orchard Supply Hardware, under which Lowe's will acquire the majority of Orchard's assets for approximately $205 million in cash, plus the assumption of payables owed to nearly all of Orchard's supplier partners. Upon completion of the transaction, the acquisition will enable Lowe's to expand through a new store format and reach a new customer base in California with the addition of Orchard's smaller-format metro store locations. Lowe's plans to have Orchard operate as a separate, standalone business, retaining its brand under the leadership of Orchard's current management team.

Based in San Jose, California and with fiscal 2012 annual revenue of $657 million, Orchard currently operates 91 neighborhood hardware and garden stores primarily located in densely populated markets in California. Under the terms of the transaction, Lowe's would acquire at least 60 of these stores based upon further due diligence on the locations. On average, the Orchard stores, which offer a product selection focused on paint, repair and backyard categories, include approximately 36,000 square feet of selling space, compared to 113,000 square feet of selling space for an average Lowe's home improvement store. Lowe's currently operates 110 stores in California.

The transaction is expected to be consummated through a court-supervised process under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and is subject to an auction and Bankruptcy Court approval. The agreement with Lowe's will serve as the "stalking-horse bid" in the auction process. Earlier today, Orchard filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Robert A. Niblock, Chairman, President and CEO of Lowe's, said, "Orchard's neighborhood stores are a natural complement to Lowe's strengths in big-box retail, offering smaller-format hardware and garden stores catering to the needs of local customers. Strategically, the acquisition will provide us with immediate access to Orchard's high density, prime locations in attractive markets in California, where Lowe's is currently underpenetrated, and will enable us to participate more fully in California's economic recovery.

"Overall, Orchard's business model offers great potential but it has been burdened with a high level of debt. With the debt addressed through the Chapter 11 process and appropriate support from Lowe's, we believe that Orchard will be positioned for profitable growth as a standalone business within our portfolio," added Mr. Niblock.

Subject to the auction process, Court approval and customary regulatory review, the parties anticipate the transaction will close in approximately 90 days. Under the terms of the agreement, Lowe's would receive a break-up fee of 3 percent of the purchase price should it not be successful in acquiring the Orchard assets. In addition, subject to Court approval, for an alternative bidder to be successful, it must outbid Lowe's by a minimum of $12.0 million, representing $5 million in addition to the break-up fee and an expense reimbursement of $850,000.

Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor to Lowe's, while Hunton & Williams LLP is acting as legal advisor.

With fiscal year 2012 sales of $50.5 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE(R) 100 company that serves approximately 15 million customers a week at more than 1,750 home improvement stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

LIRA Indicates Home Improvement Spending to Rise

CAMBRIDGE, MA – All signs point to a strong rebound for home improvement activity in 2013, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released today by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.  Robust spending in the second half of 2012 suggests the remodeling recovery is already underway, and the LIRA projects annual homeowner improvement spending will see accelerating double-digit growth through the third quarter of 2013. This news comes just ahead of the release of the Joint Center’s biennial remodeling report, The U.S. Housing Stock: Ready for Renewal, scheduled for release next Wednesday, January 23.

“It’s encouraging to see the residential sector finally contribute to growth in our economy,” says Eric S. Belsky, managing director of the Joint Center.  “Through the first three quarters of 2012, investment in the residential sector was responsible for one out of every six dollars added to our GDP.  Moving forward, home improvement spending is expected to make an even larger contribution to GDP growth.”

“There are many external economic and political risks that could derail this remodeling recovery,” says Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center.  “However, the solid momentum behind home building activity, existing home sales, low financing costs, and remodeling contractor sentiment all point to a solid start to the new year for home improvement spending.”

To read more about the LIRA visit thier website

Lowe's and Home Depot Increase Seasonal Hiring

This headline caught my eye this morning: ATLANTA - The Home Depot says it has already begun filling more than 80,000 seasonal positions to assist customers during its busiest selling season - 10,000 more than last year.  I thought this was interesting from two perspectives.  First, the fact that The Home Depot is planning to hire 14% more seasonal workers than last year is a positive sign.  That means they expect the busy spring selling season to be up over last year.   Lowe's is planning to hire 13% more seasonal workers this year also.  The Home Depot vendors that we track in our retail POS reporting service are trending up so far YTD so the data we have seems to confirm their expectation.  In addition, the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University said this month that spending on home improvement increased 9 percent in 2012.  The center found that people were spending more upgrading their homes after years of holding back, and that improvements to the 2.9 million homes in or at risk of foreclosure likely will represent sources for future spending growth.    The second reason I thought this was interesting was purely from a management perspective.  Put yourself into Tom Crow the VP Human Resources at The Home Depot for a moment.  Hiring 80,000 people is an enormous task and to accomplish that task in a short window of time must be daunting.  How exactly do you process that many applications, conduct interviews and background checks, and ensure that your corporate culture is preserved when you need to hire thousands of employees every week?      

YTD Comps at Home Depot and Lowe's looking good

As a group our Home Depot vendors are up 9% YTD over the prior year comp for US stores, Canadian stores are up 96%. (the Canadian sample is smaller)   Lowe’s stores are up 2% YTD over the prior year comp for US stores.   Home Depot will be releasing Q3 2012 earnings results on November 13 and Lowe’s releases their earnings on Nov 19.  We typically find that our vendors who are aggressively using POS data to drive business improvements are out in front of their competitors so I wonder how earnings overall will compare to our sample group of vendors who are doing pretty well on a year over year basis? 

Lowe's Stumbles In Second Quarter

Lowe's posted declines in net sales, comp-store sales and earnings in the second quarter ended August 3. 

"Our results fell short of our overall expectations," said Robert Niblock, Lowe's chairman, president and CEO.  "However, I have confidence in our strategy and in our employees, and while we recognize the significant magnitude of change that we've asked the organization to absorb as we transform our business, we fully understand that we must improve our level of execution." 

The world's second largest home improvement retailer posted sales of $14.2 billion in the quarter, down 2.0% from $14.5 billion in the same quarter last year.  Comp-store sales in the quarter were negative 0.4%.  Earnings of $747 million were down 10.0% from the same quarter a year ago.

The quarterly comparisons in 2012, which is a 52 week year, are impacted by a shift in comparable weeks.  For the six month period, comparable store sales increased 1.0%.

Currently, Lowe's operates 1,748 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with 196.8 million square feet of retail selling space.  That compares with rival Home Depot's store count of 2,255 stores.  Last week, Home Depot reported gains in comps and sales and a double digit percentage gain in net earnings.  

See related article: http://www.acceleratedanalytics.com/blog/2012/8/15/earnings-jump-124-at-home-depot.html 

Source:  retailingtoday.com

Lowe’s reports sales, earnings gains on warmer weather

Lowe’s reported net earnings of $527 million for the quarter ended May 4, a 14.3% increase over the same period a year ago.  Sales for the quarter increased 7.9% to $13.2 billion, from $12.2 billion in the first quarter of 2011.  Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 2.6%, while comparable-store sales for the U.S. business increased 2.7%.

“We delivered solid results for the quarter, consistent with our expectation at the beginning of the year,” said Robert A. Niblock, Lowe’s chairman, president and CEO. “While we capitalized on better than anticipated weather during most of the quarter, demand for seasonal products slowed toward the end.”

Lowe’s results follow a few days after its rival Home Depot announced first quarter sales and earnings increases of 5.9% and 27.5%, respectively.  Included in the results is a charge related to a previously announced reduction in staff at U.S. headquarters. This charge reduced pre-tax earnings for the first quarter by $17 million.

“We continue to maintain a cautious view of the housing and macro demand environment, and are focused on what we can control,” Niblock added. “We are building on our core strengths and strategically investing in ways that will better position Lowe’s for success. I would like to express my gratitude to our employees for their continued dedication and customer focus.”

Lowe’s operates 1,747 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico representing 196.7 million square feet of retail selling space.

Source:  retailingtoday.com

Lowe's improves customer focus with newly created exec roles

Lowe's has created two new executive positions, with the goal of streamlining its operations to better serve its customers. The new positions are chief customer officer and chief operating officer, and they will be filled by current EVP business development, Gregory Bridgeford, and Rick Damron, EVP store operations, respectively. The promotions are effective May 5, and both executives will report to Robert Niblock, chairman, president and CEO.

“As we continue to transform Lowe’s to a leaner, more nimble, multi-channel company, we took a hard look at our organizational structure and opted to make changes to support our efforts to deliver outstanding customer experiences,” said Niblock. “Lowe’s is fortunate to have a deep and talented bench of executives like Greg and Rick, with experience across home improvement disciplines. I am confident these leaders can deliver on our goals to serve customers whenever and however they choose to engage with Lowe’s.”

In his role as chief customer officer, Bridgeford will be responsible for creating experiences that will best serve customers and differentiate Lowe’s from its competitors. The CCO’s functional areas will include customer experience design, merchandising, marketing and communications, digital interfaces, and pricing and promotion. Bridgeford has more than 30 years of experience in home improvement, having served in business development and strategic planning roles since 1999. He joined the company in 1982 and has served in a variety of increasingly responsible roles, including SVP merchandising and SVP marketing.

Damron's responsibility as COO will be to deliver the customer experience. He will oversee stores operations, sales and service fulfillment, product fulfillment, real estate and facilities, and loss prevention and safety. Damron joined Lowe’s in 1981 and has worked in every aspect of the company’s store operations, and has also served as SVP of logistics. He has served as EVP store operations since 2011, with responsibility for all of Lowe’s stores as well as the company’s specialty sales businesses.

Source:  retailingtoday.com

Lowe's Net up 13%

Lowe's reported a 13% increase in earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter and same store sales were up 3.4%.  The second largest home improvement retailer has been closing stores and reshaping its operations in an effort to increase profits and compete with rival Home Depot.   For 2012, Lowe's forecasts a total sales increase of 1% to 2% with same store sales increasing 1% to 3%.  

Lowe's Integrating Planning and Execution (IPE)

Lowe’s announced poor 2Q11 financial results with anemic growth and flat same store sales recently.   To improve performance, CEO Robert Niblock and EVP merchandising Bob Gfeller are implementing Integrating Planning and Execution (IPE), which places an emphasis on putting the right product in the right store at the right quantity.  This new focus got our attention since we provide EDI 852 data analysis and reporting to Lowe’s vendors.  Putting the right product in the right store at the right quantity is exactly what vendors use EDI 852 to accomplish.  Localized merchandising is the right strategy for Lowe’s, but they may run into some challenges executing the strategy with vendor’s assistance.  

Many vendors we work with have Lowe’s as a customer, as well as other ‘big box’ retailers.  Across the board, these vendors get EDI 852 from their big box retail customers and we help them analyze the data at a SKU/store level.  But many of these vendors choose not to use Lowe’s EDI 852.  Instead,  they opt to pull reports from LowesLink®.  LowesLink® is a fine system for pulling reports.  The problem is the reports offer a snapshot of performance, not an analysis system.  If the vendor does not have a database to store weekly SKU/store data, it is nearly impossible for them to analyze weekly sales effectively and efficiently enough to participate in localized merchandising strategies.  Lowe’s does have Vendor DART which offers analysis tools, but the most powerful tools are reserved for large vendors.  

Weekly analysis of EDI 852 at a SKU/store level is the foundation of a successful program like Lowe’s IPE.  Vendors know their products best and there are simply too many products for Lowe’s staff to conduct weekly SKU/store level analysis.  For Lowe's Integrating Planning and Execution (IPE) to be successful long term, they must get vendors actively using the EDI 852.

LowesLink® is a registered trademark of LF, LLC.

Lowe's EDI 852 Standards

Lowe's provides vendors with the opportunity to receive product activity data via EDI 852. The EDI 852 data is used to report actual unit sales, on-hand, on-order and order receipts. Vendors are expected to use the data to identify items deserving increased service levels and fill rates as well as those targeted for inventory reduction. Lowe's requires vendors to document how the data will be used and how it will benefit both parties.

Item activity can be received for all items by location. This detailed data can be very useful if the vendor has the tools to process the data and quickly analyze activity. The key is to have the tool do the work, so your administrative team is not stuck with hours of data manipulation in Excel, or worse yet, on printed reports. 

Lowe's provides the following fields on their EDI 852 files: quantity sold units, quantity sold dollars, quantity on-hand units, quantity on-hand dollars, quantity on order units, quantity on order dollars, quantity on requisition from RDC units, quantity on requisition from RDC dollars, quantity received units, quantity received dollars, requisition quantity received units, requisition quantity received dollars. Not all fields are always populated in all files.

Sales units and sales dollars will match between EDI 852 and Lowe's Vendor DART. But inventory on hand units may be different due to damaged inventory. Vendor part numbers are not transmitted in EDI 852. Only the Lowe's SKU number is sent. Canadian EDI 852 is transmitted in Canadian Dollars and US sales are transmitted in US dollars. Note that Vendor DART is not available for Canada.

Lowe's EDI 852 Reporting

If you are a vendor supplying to Lowe's, you are eligible to receive product sales activity and inventory data via EDI 852. Preparing to setup and receive the EDI 852 files can be confusing, and creating usable reports for your team can be very time consuming. Fortunately, Accelerated Analytics® provides a simple, outsourced service for all your Lowe's EDI 852 reporting needs.

Using Accelerated Analytics® makes all your reporting headaches go away. With Accelerated Analytics®, we handle all the data conversion, database hosting and reporting. We even provide training and the end user reporting tools. 

Accelerated Analytics® benefits:

• Eliminate manual data entry and manipulation
• Consolidate all Lowe's store data on all your SKU's into one reporting database
• Pre-built exception reports with color coded dashboards
• No software or hardware to purchase
• Sophisticated charts and graphs

Available reports:

• This weeks sales and inventory by store and SKU
• Last weeks sales and inventory by store and SKU
• This months sales and inventory by store and SKU
• 6 week rolling sales and inventory by store and SKU
• Sell-thru
• Inventory turns
• Days supply on hand 

Accelerated Analytics® will give you the ability to anticipate changes in sales and inventory, so you can make adjustments before a costly mistake occurs. Our EDI 852 reporting is the best on the market. 

Positive Signs In Retail

Nordstrom and Lowe’s both reported big increase in profits, and their CEO’s believe the economy is improving, and their sales will continue to improve.

Nordstrom's Profit More Than Doubles
Upscale department-store chain Nordstrom Inc. reported a 152 percent increase in profits during the quarter ended Jan. 30, underscoring how its strategy of expanding price points and carrying more exclusive merchandise is leading to more full-priced selling. The 108-year-old Seattle retailer missed Wall Street's profit expectations by two cents a share on higher expenses and credit card delinquencies. The company's shares fell 3.8% in after-hours trading, to $34.75.  Nordstrom maintained a cautious outlook for 2010, noting that it expects same-store sales to increase between 2% and 4%,

Lowe’s Profits Up 27%
Lowe's Cos. reported a 27% jump in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings amid signs that U.S. consumers are at least starting to consider home-renovation projects again, after more than three years of hesitation. Chief Executive Robert A. Niblock said, the home-improvement retailer's first year-over-year quarterly earnings increase in seven quarters suggests "the worst of the economic cycle is likely behind us." Lowe's expects to see a monthly same-store sales increase during the second quarter—the retailer's peak selling season.