Lowe’s combines education and shopping in new livestreams

Lowe’s Companies Inc. is targeting first-time millennial homeowners with an instructional livestream series that includes an e-commerce component.

The home improvement titan is launching DIY-U by Lowe’s, a set of new, limited-seat monthly livestreams and in-store how-to project workshops. As of Monday, Feb. 28, Lowe’s is offering three types of instructional experiences: two livestreams for up to 1,000 registrants each, an in-person kids workshop for children ages 5-12, and two adult in-person workshops in all stores nationwide.

Each workshop will be hosted by Lowe’s expert “Red Vest” store associates. Lowe’s new virtual workshop experiences will also allow customers to shop and add supplies to their cart in real-time and receive live answers to project questions from Lowe’s Red Vest experts.

When designing the current schedule and format of DIY-U, Lowe’s obtained consumer insights that revealed flexibility, topic relevance and expert connection were most important, especially among millennial consumers. Both workshop formats will open for registration the first of each month and feature current, seasonally-based themes.

The initial March 2022 schedule, open for registration starting Feb. 28, includes:  

• A Bathroom Refresh You Can Do Yourself (How to Install a Vanity).
• Kids Workshop: Shoot the Moon (Build a Game to Compete for the Highest Score).
• Make Your Home Office Work for You (How to Wallpaper a Room).

According to Lowe’s, it hopes to become the social community for DIY home improvement customers. With planned developments ranging from sharing virtual “high fives” with fellow workshop participants, to earning badges for project completion, Lowe’s hopes to add gamification to its livestream experience.

“As new generations and new customers embrace DIY, we recognize how valuable our Red Vest store associates can be in providing project “how to” help and expertise,” said Marisa Thalberg, Lowe’s executive VP, chief brand and marketing officer. “With the launch of DIY-U by Lowe’s, we are making sure that support and a DIY community is available where, when and how people most want it: instore, live and interactive online, or online on-demand. We believe this is going to be the ultimate DIY resource that is informative, fun and motivational for everyone.”

Lowe’s targets pros
Lowe’s is focusing on less-experienced millennial customers following a concerted effort to serve the needs of its most experienced customers – home improvement professionals. The company recently rolled out a new loyalty offering called the Lowe's MVPs Pro Rewards and Partnership Program. 

And in April 2021, the retailer rolled out an in-store shopping experience created specifically for them. Lowe’s said its updated Pro customer experience is designed for speed and convenience, saving Pros time and money. In addition, Lowe's has been deploying new technology to help employees improve their relationship with Pro customers. A tool introduced last year provides insights that helps employees engage with Pros “unlike ever before and ultimately help them grow their businesses,” the company said. 

With fiscal year 2020 sales of nearly $90 billion, Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe's Companies Inc. and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,200 home improvement and hardware stores.