Boston, MA, July 10--Looking to dominate the installed sales market, Lowe’s is rolling out a completely new strategy.
"We’re not tweaking the model, we’re starting over," Lowe’s chairman and CEO Robert Tillman said today at the CIBC World Markets Third Annual Consumer Growth Conference, which is being held here.
But Tillman would not reveal the features that make the new program different from what Lowe's has done in the past. Tillman said the new model, 18 months in the making, was tested at Lowe’s stores in the Charlotte, NC, area. Within three weeks of its launch, installed sales increased 55 percent and consumer complaints dropped 95 percent, according to Tillman.
Now in 128 stores, the chief executive said his company is seeing similar success with the program and plans to roll it out to all 875 stores operating in 45 states within the next 12 months. The company plans to open 130 new stores in 2004.
Noting such competitors as Sears and Home Depot, Tillman said a major retailer has yet to perfect an installed sales model. However, Lowe’s is looking to do nearly that.
"If we can execute installed sales properly, we believe we will build a customer franchise that can not be taken away from us," Tillman said.
In 2002, Lowe’s rang up about $1.1 billion in installed sales, about 5 percent of its overall 2002 sales of $26.5 billion
