Lowe’s pilots one-hour delivery
Lowe’s Companies Inc. is partnering with a well-known online delivery platform to test same-day delivery in as fast as one hour.
The home improvement giant is collaborating with Instacart to make approximately 20,000 products, including small home appliances, building supplies, light fixtures, and garden and outdoor essentials, delivered from the store to their door. Same-day Lowe's delivery via Instacart is initially available in Boston and Charlotte, N.C., with plans to expand in the coming months.
To begin shopping from Lowe's for same-day delivery via Instacart, customers in Charlotte and Boston can visit the dedicated Lowe’s page on the Instacart site, or select the Lowe's storefront on the Instacart app. For all orders, an Instacart shopper will pick and deliver the order within the customer's chosen delivery timeframe. Customers can follow along and live chat with their shopper in real-time as needed.
Lowe's is the first dedicated home improvement partner available on the Instacart marketplace. Chief Lowe’s rival The Home Depot partnered with Walmart’s white-label GoLocal delivery service to offer same-day and next-day delivery in October 2021. Home Depot offers same-day and next-day delivery via GoLocal in a growing range of select markets. The service is limited to items that easily fit in a car such as fasteners, paint and small tools.
While this partnership helps Lowe’s stay competitive with Home Depot in offering on-demand delivery, it also aids Instacart in offering as wide a range of services as Walmart GoLocal, which was launched as a direct competitor to third-party delivery platforms such as Instacart and DoorDash.
“Online is a key piece of our omnichannel strategy, and the combination of Lowe's home improvement expertise and Instacart's ability to help deliver right to your door within hours offers a new, convenient way to shop," said Mike Shady, Lowe's senior VP of online. "As we explore a suite of solutions to meet our customers' same-day and next-day delivery needs, this partnership is enhancing the customer experience and providing the choices today's customers demand."
"People across North America have shown they're embracing the 'do it yourself' mentality, and demand for home improvement essentials on our platform grew by more than 50 percent in 2021 compared to 2020," said Chris Rogers, VP of retail at Instacart. "Today, we're proud to welcome Lowe's to the Instacart marketplace, delivering essential items customers need to complete their projects without leaving their homes. We're excited to help Lowe's connect with consumers in a new way, and we look forward to growing our partnership over the coming months."
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. Instacart has partnered with more than 700 national, regional and local retailers to deliver from more than 65,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America. Instacart's platform is available to over 85% of U.S. households and 90% of Canadian households.