家居装修市场正旺，“家得宝的小弟”大力整顿电商业务
劳氏一直被戏称为其竞争对手家得宝的小弟。
尽管这家家居装修零售商数年来的销售增速一直不及家得宝，但公司取得的一些重大进展也开始让这一观念烟消云散。不妨看看这个最新的证据：劳氏在8月19日公布，截至7月31日季度的美国店面可比销售业绩增长了35%，甚至比家得宝上周早些时候公布的25%增速更高。
尽管这两家公司明显受益于数千万美国民众的居家生活以及家居改造项目，但劳氏也壮大了自己的事业部门，最为显著的便是完善其电商服务。线上销售在本季度飙升了135%，如今占到总销售额的8%：这个数字依然低于家得宝，但一年前仅有约4%。（家得宝的线上销售占比约为20%。）
自首席执行官马文•艾利森两年前执掌以来，劳氏按部就班地开展了一些幕后工作，例如为其电商网站另寻平台，将其连接至谷歌云，并提升了其稳定性。艾利森说，既然这些举措如今基本上都已完成，劳氏网站下个阶段的工作就是增加更多面向客户的功能，例如单次点击结账，客户规划或调整交货时间的能力，以及提供更好的平面造型。
他说：“关键在于改善客户的前端体验。”劳氏面临的另一个问题是其相对于家得宝的在线受欢迎程度较为落后。eMarketer称，家得宝是排名第五的电商公司，前四位分别是亚马逊、eBay、沃尔玛和苹果。
家得宝的线上商品种类是劳氏的四倍，但艾利森并没有在网站上添加更多的商品，除非他认为网站有能力去承接。他说：“网站的运行非常羸弱，但在过去的6个月中我们增加了不少商品。”
2021年店面会增加更多的产品，而且劳氏也会开发新的类目，按照艾利森的说法，这些新类目出现在家居装修连锁店中可能会出乎人们的意料，但他并没有透露到底是什么产品。家得宝已经成功地增添了家庭软装产品，并增添了玩具和假日装饰产品，以利用黑五这类大型假日季。
尽管劳氏的业务正处于蒸蒸日上的时期，但艾利森表示，进军非核心门类的举措要等到明年才会开展。他说：“我们当前并没有这么做的原因在于，我们的核心门类产品仍有机会。”他举了一个例子：“Lowes.com缺乏深度，网站需要更多的产品类目，例如工具、照明灯。”
第二季度，劳氏在其长期以来落后于家得宝的市场取得了重大突破，最为突出的是专业承包市场和城市店面。艾利森说，其中很大一部分来自于劳氏有限的数字力量。城市居民和承包商尤其依赖于强有力的线上产品。因此，劳氏开始有针对性地解决这些问题的举措将在长期内提振公司的业绩。他说：“当你看到公司城市地区的业绩出现像第二季度的明显改善时，它将提振整个公司的生产效率。”（财富中文网）
译者：Feb
劳氏一直被戏称为其竞争对手家得宝的小弟。
尽管这家家居装修零售商数年来的销售增速一直不及家得宝，但公司取得的一些重大进展也开始让这一观念烟消云散。不妨看看这个最新的证据：劳氏在8月19日公布，截至7月31日季度的美国店面可比销售业绩增长了35%，甚至比家得宝上周早些时候公布的25%增速更高。
尽管这两家公司明显受益于数千万美国民众的居家生活以及家居改造项目，但劳氏也壮大了自己的事业部门，最为显著的便是完善其电商服务。线上销售在本季度飙升了135%，如今占到总销售额的8%：这个数字依然低于家得宝，但一年前仅有约4%。（家得宝的线上销售占比约为20%。）
自首席执行官马文•艾利森两年前执掌以来，劳氏按部就班地开展了一些幕后工作，例如为其电商网站另寻平台，将其连接至谷歌云，并提升了其稳定性。艾利森说，既然这些举措如今基本上都已完成，劳氏网站下个阶段的工作就是增加更多面向客户的功能，例如单次点击结账，客户规划或调整交货时间的能力，以及提供更好的平面造型。
他说：“关键在于改善客户的前端体验。”劳氏面临的另一个问题是其相对于家得宝的在线受欢迎程度较为落后。eMarketer称，家得宝是排名第五的电商公司，前四位分别是亚马逊、eBay、沃尔玛和苹果。
家得宝的线上商品种类是劳氏的四倍，但艾利森并没有在网站上添加更多的商品，除非他认为网站有能力去承接。他说：“网站的运行非常羸弱，但在过去的6个月中我们增加了不少商品。”
2021年店面会增加更多的产品，而且劳氏也会开发新的类目，按照艾利森的说法，这些新类目出现在家居装修连锁店中可能会出乎人们的意料，但他并没有透露到底是什么产品。家得宝已经成功地增添了家庭软装产品，并增添了玩具和假日装饰产品，以利用黑五这类大型假日季。
尽管劳氏的业务正处于蒸蒸日上的时期，但艾利森表示，进军非核心门类的举措要等到明年才会开展。他说：“我们当前并没有这么做的原因在于，我们的核心门类产品仍有机会。”他举了一个例子：“Lowes.com缺乏深度，网站需要更多的产品类目，例如工具、照明灯。”
第二季度，劳氏在其长期以来落后于家得宝的市场取得了重大突破，最为突出的是专业承包市场和城市店面。艾利森说，其中很大一部分来自于劳氏有限的数字力量。城市居民和承包商尤其依赖于强有力的线上产品。因此，劳氏开始有针对性地解决这些问题的举措将在长期内提振公司的业绩。他说：“当你看到公司城市地区的业绩出现像第二季度的明显改善时，它将提振整个公司的生产效率。”（财富中文网）
译者：Feb
Lowe's has long been derided as a weaker version of its bigger rival Home Depot.
But the home improvement retailer has been making big strides in beginning to dispel that notion after years of underperforming Home Depot in sales growth. The latest evidence: Lowe's on Wednesday reported comparable sales at its U.S. stores rose 35% in the quarter ended July 31. That was even better than Home Depot's 25% increase reported earlier this week.
While both companies have clearly benefited from tens of millions of Americans being homebound and working on house projects, Lowe's has helped its own cause, most notably in fixing its e-commerce. Online sales rose 135% in the quarter and are now 8% of total sales: that's still below Home Depot but compares to about 4% only a year ago. (At Home Depot, it's about 20%.)
Since CEO Marvin Ellison took the reins two years ago, Lowe's has undertaken the nerdy behind-the-scenes work of re-platforming its e-commerce site, connecting it to Google cloud and making it more stable. Ellison says that now that those efforts are largely done, the next phase for Lowe's site will be to add more customer-facing features such as one-click checkout, the ability for customers to schedule or change a delivery time and better graphic.
"It's going to be all about improving customer experience on the front end," he says. Another issue for Lowe's is its online selection compared to that of Home Depot, which according to eMarketer is the No. 5 U.S. e-commerce company after Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Apple.
Home Depot's online assortment is about four times greater than Lowe's, and Ellison has held off adding more to Lowes.com until he felt the site could handle it. "We were functioning so poorly but in the last six months we've added a lot," he says.
And more assortment is also coming to stores coming in 2021, with Lowe's set to dive into new categories Ellison says people might not expect to see at a home improvement chain, though he declined to say what those would be. Home Depot has successfully added categories like soft home furnishings as well as sought to capitalize on big events like Black Friday by adding toys and holiday decorations.
Yet as much as Lowe's is gaining momentum, Ellison says forays into non-core categories can wait until next year. "The reason we are not doing that right now is because we have opportunities in our core categories," he says. "Lowes.com lacks depth- it needs more items like tools, lightning," he notes as an example.
Lowe's made big breakthroughs in the second quarter in markets where it has long lagged Home Depot, most notably the professional contract market and city stores. A big part of that, Ellison says, has stemmed from Lowe's limited digital prowess. City dwellers and contractors in particular are reliant on a strong online offering. So cracking those nuts, as Lowe's has begun to, will provide boost Lowe's for a long time. "When you get improvements like you saw in the second quarter in urban areas, it's going to drive productivity for the whole company," he says.
