Lowe's Companies, a Fortune 100 home improvement retailer with over $86 billion in sales and approximately 300,000 associates, has strategically invested in AI since 2021 through partnerships with OpenAI, NVIDIA, and Palantir. These AI initiatives aim to enhance customer experience and drive sales performance across its extensive omnichannel network, serving 16 million weekly customers, including a significant Pro contractor base. AI has moved beyond pilot programs into company-wide deployments, directly impacting both the workforce and customer interactions.
Closing the Knowledge Gap through Mylow Companion
Home improvement retail faces a significant challenge with its vast product range and high frontline employee turnover, leading to a structural knowledge gap. This often results in lost sales, customer dissatisfaction, and product returns. Replacing a retail employee costs approximately $10,000–$12,000, with new hires taking months to reach full performance. Lowe's developed Mylow Companion, a generative AI assistant, to address this issue. The tool, which runs on the same OpenAI foundation as Lowe's customer-facing Mylow, provides instant, expert-level product knowledge to store associates via their sales-floor devices, supporting both typed and voice input. This allows associates to answer customer questions outside their direct area of expertise in real-time. Mylow Companion was fully rolled out to all 1,700+ stores in May 2025, becoming the first at-scale implementation of such a tool in retail. The company reported a 200 basis point increase in its internal likelihood-to-recommend score and customer satisfaction metrics, with active associate usage directly contributing to these 'dramatic' improvements in customer service.
Speeding Up Pro Estimates through Automated Document Digitization
Professional contractors often experience inefficiencies in their workflow due to the manual conversion of project quotes from handwritten notes, jobsite photos, or informal spreadsheets into itemized, priced orders. This delay can impact their ability to win jobs, as contractors submitting formal written quotes are 30% more likely to secure projects. The Pro segment is a critical growth area for Lowe's, having grown from 22% of revenue in 2023 to 40% by 2025. To eliminate this friction, Lowe's launched 'Material Lists' in May 2026. This AI-powered tool uses SKU matching and automated document digitization to transform unstructured input into organized, priced product lists within minutes. It supports both English and Spanish input, catering to Lowe's growing Latino contractor customer base. For Pro customers, this streamlines the estimating and quoting process, reduces manual entry errors, and minimizes costly change orders. 'Material Lists' is part of a broader suite of AI tools for the Pro segment, including 'Blueprint Takeoffs' and 'Pro Extended Aisle', indicating a connected product strategy. While the tool is relatively new, Lowe's anticipates it will improve close rates on larger orders, though specific metrics for quote-turnaround-time reduction or order volume lift are yet to be published.
