Lowe’s Is Merging Marketing With Commerce
Lowe’s has made an organizational change that says more about the future of multi-location marketing than a typical executive promotion. The home-improvement retailer has expanded CMO Jen Wilson’s role to include Lowes.com and its third-party marketplace. Wilson, now executive vice president and chief marketing and digital commerce officer, already oversaw marketing, loyalty, personalization and Lowe’s retail media business.
Putting those functions under one executive reflects how little separation remains between advertising, product discovery and the transaction itself. For Lowe’s, marketing is no longer responsible only for bringing shoppers to the door. It is increasingly responsible for helping them move through a journey that may begin with an online search, continue through local product availability and end at a nearby store.
A Customer Journey Without Channel Boundaries
The timing is significant. Lowe’s reported that online sales increased 15.7% in its second quarter, while overall comparable sales rose just 0.2%. Wilson also told Marketing Dive that more than 80% of home-improvement shopping journeys now begin online. Those shoppers do not necessarily remain online; they may research products, check local inventory and compare reviews before visiting a store, arranging delivery or collecting an order curbside.
Bringing marketing and digital commerce together creates a better chance of managing that experience around the customer rather than the channel. The same audiences used for media, loyalty and personalization can inform product discovery and conversion. Commerce data can then show whether marketing generated a sale, a store visit or a longer-term customer relationship.
That is especially important for a retailer whose physical network remains central to fulfillment. Local inventory accuracy, pickup readiness and delivery options can determine whether a digital interaction converts. A national campaign can create demand, but the promise is ultimately kept—or broken—at the location level.
Marketplace Adds a New Discovery Layer
Lowe’s marketplace extends its assortment beyond products carried in stores, helping the retailer appear in more searches while identifying demand for new categories. Wilson said the marketplace is already revealing interest in higher-end products, including premium faucets and chandeliers. That gives Lowe’s a way to test customer demand without placing every item in every store.
The marketplace can also affect the economics of discovery. A larger and more relevant online assortment may improve organic search visibility, potentially reducing reliance on paid acquisition for some queries. At the same time, marketplace sellers become potential advertisers for Lowe’s retail media network, giving the company another way to monetize traffic and first-party customer signals.
Together, marketing, commerce, loyalty and retail media give Lowe’s a more complete view of how customers are acquired, converted and retained. Under one leader, Lowe’s can theoretically make decisions based on the value of the complete customer relationship.
The Hard Part Still Happens Across the Organization
An integrated executive portfolio does not automatically create an integrated customer experience. Store operations, merchandising, supply chain and technology still control many of the moments that determine whether Lowe’s delivers on its marketing.
If an ad promotes a product that is unavailable nearby, if a pickup order is not ready or if marketplace delivery disappoints, shared audience data will not repair the experience. Lowe’s will need common goals that extend beyond marketing efficiency and ecommerce conversion. The useful measures will include how often digital discovery produces store-assisted sales, whether loyalty members shop across channels, how local availability affects conversion and whether retail media campaigns generate incremental purchases rather than shifting sales Lowe’s would have captured anyway.
There is also an inherent tension in placing retail media beside customer experience. Sponsored placements generate revenue, but they must remain useful to shoppers. A retailer that allows advertising goals to overwhelm relevance risks making product discovery harder at the moment it is trying to make the journey more personal.
Lowe’s reorganization is a recognition that the old handoff from marketing to commerce no longer matches how people shop. Time will tell if putting more of the customer journey under one executive produces a journey that actually feels unified in every market and at every location.
