Jennifer Wilson is stepping into the role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Lowe’s following the departure of former CMO Marisa Thalberg. Wilson’s previous role at Lowe’s was Senior Vice President of Enterprise Brand and Marketing, lending her diverse marketing skills to the home improvement retailer for over 15 years.
In the wake of Thalberg’s departure, Lowe’s has restructured by incorporating the marketing department under the umbrella of merchandising, a division now led by Bill Boltz, Executive Vice President of Merchandising. This arrangement is expected to remain in place amid Wilson’s promotion.
Lowe’s has faced financial challenges due to the pandemic’s impact on the home improvement industry. This struggle is evident in a reported 11% drop in the company’s revenue from 2022 to 2023, outpacing the slowdown felt by its main competitor, Home Depot.
Wilson’s promotion and Lowe’s strategic shifts
Despite this, Lowe’s remains optimistic, implementing new strategies to tackle the unpredictable market conditions.
As part of this response to market conditions, Lowe’s is expanding into digital technologies to align itself with changes in consumer behavior and rising online shopping trends. The company also plans to broaden its product range by introducing new items tailored to current home improvement needs, such as enhancing home offices.
Lowe’s further strategy includes moving from Starcom to Spark Foundry for its agency partnership. Wilson’s team has outlined three key goals: to solidify Lowe’s brand identity as a leading home improvement company with noteworthy staff support, strengthen customer relationships to improve loyalty, and accelerate the development of the marketing division through customer insights and advanced tech adoption.
Competition with other retail giants like Amazon, Target, and Walmart is a further focus for Lowe’s. To meet this challenge, Lowe’s aims to revamp its retail media network, establish a dedicated customer experience integration team to enhance customers’ journey and create a specialized marketing team to bolster its loyalty schemes.
In conclusion, the “Lowe’s Knows” campaign was instrumental in setting the groundwork for these strategic shifts. Keys to success for this new direction will include enhancing brand preference, increasing in-store footfall, benchmarking value perception scores against industry rivals amongst both professional and novice home improvers, and deepening customer loyalty to Lowe’s.
