Lowe's 2010 Annual Report Download - page 15

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 15 of the 2010 Lowe's annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 58

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58

LOWE’S 2010 ANNUAL REPORT 11
RETAIL EXCELLENCE
We continue to deliver the great values that
customers have come to expect while main-
taining our reputation for offering innovative
products and always striving to create a
superior shopping experience.
To deliver an even better experience at a value,
we continually look for opportunities within our
corporate office, field support and stores to
work more efficiently. For example, we refine
our product categories based on the role each
plays in our overall merchandising portfolio. This
allows us to allocate resources, like inventory
and marketing dollars, to optimize the portfolio.
We have identified four roles that we will focus
on in the coming years: destination, core, proj-
ect completer and opportunistic.
In addition to defining the role of the categories,
we continue to focus on our “go local” strategy.
“Go local” means that we adapt our assortments,
pricing and advertising to each market we serve,
while always adhering to the fundamentals of
customer service and store environment that
make Lowe’s unique. We made two important
changes to our pricing strategy in 2010. First,
we increased the number of patch areas, or
competitive pricing zones, from under 90 to
more than 210. This allowed us to price more
competitively in each market. In addition, we
implemented Base Price Optimization, which
determines the best price, by item and patch
area, to optimize positive price perception and
total basket profitability.
In 2011, we will further implement Integrated
Planning and Execution (IP&E). IP&E will com-
plement the judgment and creativity of our
merchants, helping them realize the objectives of
category management and our “go local” strategy.
In simple terms, these tools and processes
will help us to get the right product to the right
place at the right time – even more efficiently
and effectively than we do today. We will use
IP&E to more specifically determine what
EXECUTING ON
OUR PROMISE