Q&A: Neelima Sharma, SVP, omnichannel & e-commerce technology, Lowe’s
Lowe’s Companies Inc. is fitting artificial intelligence into its broader enterprise strategy.
Chain Store Age had a chance at the recent NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show conference in New York to sit down and have a wide-ranging conversation with Neelima Sharma, senior VP, omnichannel & e-commerce technology, Lowe’s Companies Inc.
Sharma provided insight on topics including what she saw at the NRF event, Lowe’s AI and third-party marketplace activities, and what’s in store for Lowe’s technology plans in 2026.
What were the main themes you saw at the 2026 NRF conference?
The main themes were around AI and how quickly customers are embracing AI and how customer expectations are increasing. AI is here. AI is for real, and customers are adopting it faster.
What has Lowe’s experience with AI been in the past year?
We have been thoughtful and strategic about how we're going to go into the AI journey and how we want to be able to leverage AI. We have categorized AI into three pillars: How we shop, how we sell, and how we work.
How we shop is all about the customer and the customer experience, and how does it play a role in helping the customer make better decisions. How we sell is about our store associates. How do we make them into 'super associates' so that they can support and enable customers asking for help with their home improvement needs?
How we work is simply how we work, whether it's in our corporate offices or distribution centers. Under each of these pillars, we've come up with some anchor initiatives that have allowed us to enable the outcomes that we expect.
For example, the Mylow AI consumer app is one of the initiatives included in how we shop, because we think our customers are going to be shopping more conversationally. They need their advice and support enabled by AI. Home improvement is complex.
Home improvement execution is even more complex, from inspiration to installation, for our customers and associates. Sometimes a customer needs help, and there's no associate in that aisle, so we want to make sure that another associate feels as comfortable in supporting that customer in that aisle with their specific need.
Mylow Companion, which is a sister product to Mylow for associates, has allowed us to do that. And then there is our corporate office, which we call our Store Support Center (SSC). We are building an SSC Companion app.
From a customer standpoint, visualization is a big area for us. We just launched an end-to-end kitchen journey. Kitchens are infrequent, high-consideration purchases. Often customers don't know what they're looking for. They just want a new kitchen.
Now, customers can take a picture of their kitchen and upload a picture, and Lowe’s will give them all kinds of ideas using AI-generated images which are grounded in our own catalog. We will take their space and convert it into the style that they are aspiring to.
From there, a person goes into the customer’s house to take measures and then they receive a text with a code They can buy it if they’re comfortable right then and there.
Customers can also go to a local Lowe’s store and ask questions. We can show them in Apple Vision Pro what their future kitchen will look like. The customer confidence level goes up with AI, because now you they know exactly what they’re getting into.
What are the latest developments with Lowe’s Marketplace?
We haven't really started advertising and marketing it yet. However, Lowe’s is finding that the majority of marketplace sales come in because customers are looking for something specific and we are able to surface products that we originally didn't have but now have as an offering. The demand is there.
[READ MORE: Lowe’s expands third-party marketplace assortment]
Lowe’s Marketplace has been amazing because we are now able to solve customer problems. Our mission is to solve problems and fulfill dreams at home, and that is another tool in the toolbox that having a third-party marketplace has given us – being able to meet the customers where they are with what they want.
What do you see as the major retail technology trends for the upcoming year?
The biggest trend that I see is how much trust customers are starting to place in AI agents. We believe we are going to see more questions for Mylow around things like what to gift your husband, because we were getting so many holiday gift questions.
Mylow is also getting questions like, ‘I'm not very good with design but I want this couch. What should be the paint color for its legs?’ The point is, those customer journeys are going to get crisper, and they will have less friction.
It used to be that a consumer would search for something on Google, then go to YouTube to watch a video about it, then find a retailer who would sell it. All that is going to happen in one session,
Ultimately, Lowe’s mission is solving problems and fulfilling dreams for the home. In the home, if I have to change my air filter or my water filter in a refrigerator, I don't get up in the morning saying, 'Yay. I get to change that water filter.'
We want the process to be automated, frictionless and easy for the customer with an agent that tells them it's time to replace their water heater, and the agent will then place the order and get it delivered. That kind of thing.
Editor’s Note: Neelima Sharma was a Chain Store Age Retail’s Top Women Awards recipient in the technology category in 2024.
