Lowe’s Same-Day Service Delivery Goes Nationwide

Lowe’s is taking its same-day delivery offering nationwide.

The home improvement retailer on Wednesday (July 19) announced it was expanding that offering via a partnership with last-mile transportation company OneRail, letting customers get products delivered in hours.

“Utilizing all of our 1,700-plus stores for online delivery and fulfillment is essential to becoming a true omnichannel retailer,” Lowe’s chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison said in a news release. “This same-day delivery expansion delivers on our Total Home strategy to bring more omnichannel shopping capabilities to DIYers and Pros alike.”

According to the release, the program lets customers shop for supplies and have them delivered the same day when orders are placed by 2 p.m. local time. Orders placed after 2 p.m. will arrive the following day.

Lowe’s began working with OneRail last year. As PYMNTS wrote in May, the company’s omnichannel and digital upgrades have been a bright spot for Lowe’s amid declining sales.

“As an example, we’re replacing our 30-year-old operating system with a modern omnichannel architecture that will enable a seamless, intuitive customer experience while removing complexity for associates,” Ellison said during an earnings call. “This project has been underway for four years, and we are pleased that we are on track to retire all legacy green screens by the end of this year.”

PYMNTS took a closer look at last-mile delivery earlier this month in a conversation of Raj Ramanan, new CEO of AxleHire.

At a high level, “consumers hold brands accountable for the delivery experience,” he told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, adding that a satisfying delivery, he said, can yield repeat purchases.

“Delivery,” said Ramanan, “should be thought of as an extension of the brand, and not just a cost bucket to manage.”

For the logistics firms that manage to get this right, the rewards can be substantial, said Ramanan, who took on the CEO role recently as his company works to provide what it has termed an Amazon-like experience for all brands.

The greenfield opportunity in this space is “staggering,” PYMNTS wrote, with domestic delivery projected to become a $200 billion market in the next few years, growing at about 15% per year.