Lowe's Case
MBAS831 Aug. 2012, Case Assignment, 10071193 1. Challenges faced by Simpson and his team: Lowe’s initiative called the next generation installed sales (NGIS) is a relatively new
effort by Lowe’s to expand their service offerings to become an end to end solution provider for customer’s kitchen remodeling projects. The main challenges faced by Simpson were how to move into kitchen remodeling business? and how to position Lowe in the market? Another challenge was how to reach the customers. With NGIS there is a greater emphasis on customer interaction, this can be achieved by creating an integrated marketing communications plan that would combine the traditional as well as emerging marketing communications channel. The key challenge here was to create the integrated marketing communication plan with the right mix of traditional marketing & digital marketing and choosing the best digital marketing tactics among the various choices available. The NGIS initiative calls for a different approach to customer management, traditionally customer interaction was minimal but with NGIS there is a greater customer interaction and how to handle this customer interaction was a major challenge as Lowe’s do not have expertise in this area. In NGIS process, Lowe’s would coordinate the project from start to finish (and beyond) by involving third-party contractors. Each independent service provider would undergo the rigorous training in the Lowe’s way. Managing the entire thirdparty contractor client interaction represented a challenge and risk to Lowe’s. In the customer survey (Case Exhibit 4 – 9) only 8% of customers preferred Lowe’s. The key challenge to Simpson and his team was to change this perception. Research into preliminary customer experience map (Case Exhibit 5) reveals that the customer interaction with Lowe’s at the initial Incubation/Visioning phase as well and the post completion phase is non-existence. Simpson and his team need to change this and actively engage the
effort by Lowe’s to expand their service offerings to become an end to end solution provider for customer’s kitchen remodeling projects. The main challenges faced by Simpson were how to move into kitchen remodeling business? and how to position Lowe in the market? Another challenge was how to reach the customers. With NGIS there is a greater emphasis on customer interaction, this can be achieved by creating an integrated marketing communications plan that would combine the traditional as well as emerging marketing communications channel. The key challenge here was to create the integrated marketing communication plan with the right mix of traditional marketing & digital marketing and choosing the best digital marketing tactics among the various choices available. The NGIS initiative calls for a different approach to customer management, traditionally customer interaction was minimal but with NGIS there is a greater customer interaction and how to handle this customer interaction was a major challenge as Lowe’s do not have expertise in this area. In NGIS process, Lowe’s would coordinate the project from start to finish (and beyond) by involving third-party contractors. Each independent service provider would undergo the rigorous training in the Lowe’s way. Managing the entire thirdparty contractor client interaction represented a challenge and risk to Lowe’s. In the customer survey (Case Exhibit 4 – 9) only 8% of customers preferred Lowe’s. The key challenge to Simpson and his team was to change this perception. Research into preliminary customer experience map (Case Exhibit 5) reveals that the customer interaction with Lowe’s at the initial Incubation/Visioning phase as well and the post completion phase is non-existence. Simpson and his team need to change this and actively engage the