Order fulfillment speed soars 6 times, Lowe's annual sales approach 90 billion

The pandemic has boosted the online home improvement market , and Lowe 's has made huge progress this year.

Lowe’s fulfills orders 6 times faster

According to Supply Chain Dive , in 2020, about 60% of Lowe's online orders were completed in its stores , and Lowe's said it needed to significantly expand its fulfillment capabilities to support this growing demand. As a result, the company has set up a dedicated team to handle in-store operations and plans to install lockers in all stores in the United States by April.

And, during the year, Lowe's order fulfillment rate was an average of six times faster than a year ago.

Lowe’s opened an e-commerce fulfillment center in Southern California last year and is adding three more stores to help deliver same-day and next-day orders, Chief Executive Officer Marvin Ellison said.

Since 2019 , Lowe's has invested $1.7 billion in its supply chain to improve efficiency and cut transportation costs. In addition, the retailer launched curbside pickup service in the first quarter of 2020, and added pickup lockers a few months later. Currently, there are pickup lockers in 1,200 stores.

Annual sales of nearly 90 billion

Lowe's online sales grew 121% in the fourth quarter as customers shifted more of their shopping time online, especially during the holiday season.

With Lowe’s e-commerce sales growing strongly , it was imperative to quickly implement an omnichannel strategy and enhance the technology behind the scenes.

"We continue to enhance our mobile app to improve the customer experience," said Joe McFarland, executive vice president of stores . " This quarter, we began rolling out geo-fencing technology that identifies when an order that a consumer picked up online arrives in a store, allowing for faster fulfillment in stores . "

In addition, Ellison also said: " Market-based delivery is absolutely the way forward , and we feel that our strategy is sound. "

Recently, Ellison said: " I am pleased with the progress we made in 2020 as we generated nearly $90 billion in sales, an annual sales growth of more than $17 billion, while also improving our operating efficiency. Looking forward to 2021, we expect to further increase market share and drive further expansion of operating profit margins. "

Lowe's

Home improvement industry

Home Improvement E-Commerce

Order fulfillment speed