Lowe’s executives really need to start shopping on their own website.
Shown here is a Jonard 16pc “household tool set with soft case,” priced at a whopping $799.95.
Household tool sets are typically general purpose assortments for homeowners’ or renters’ everyday maintenance or repair tasks.
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$800 can buy you a lot of tools – I think that’s an outrageous price for a household tool kit.
Taking a close look at the tools, those don’t look like typical household tools, except maybe the screwdriver, shears, pliers, cutters, and one of the stripping tools.
Taking a closer look, it includes specialty tools such as a fiber optic drop cable slitter, 3-hole optic splitter, and a fiber cleaver.
This is a household tool set? (See the Jonard set at Lowe’s here.)
Part of me is happy that Lowe’s keeps adding more high-quality tool brands to their online catalog. However, the execution seems to be pure chaos.
Overall, this isn’t a major flub, but how does it happen? Did they haphazardly add scores of Jonard tool SKUs to the online catalog and just call it a day?
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I think that a lot of these issues would go away if Lowe’s execs spent more time shopping their own website.
I don’t recall seeing Jonard tools there before. Even if this isn’t a new development, there are plenty of other online-available tool brands that have been launching at Lowe’s, such as Beta Tools.
While Lowe’s online store is growing bigger, is it getting any better? I don’t think so, do you?
fred
As you say: “the execution seems to be pure chaos”
I find that to be true of most of my visits to my local Lowes.
At that store – you are on your own regarding finding things, self-service checkouts are often shut down or not working and the checkout always seems longer than at HD. The guard at the exit always seems friendly – but I no longer respond to his question about “were you able to find what you were looking for?”
On the two recent times that I ordered online for pickup – I waited online to present my order – then they had a hard time finding my items. On the last trip there for a pickup the transaction took nearly an hour.
On a positive note – my wife likes the fresh plants at their garden center better than those at the 2 Home Depots that are nearby. So, shopping with her is the only reason I can see to visit.
Rob
Interesting. My Lowe’s does not have a guard at the exit.
But our self checkout hardly ever even has a line waiting. 🤷🏻♂️
William
I think Lowe’s has an incredibly difficult site to use compared to most major retailers. The search bar is of particular frustration when looking for a a specialty part. It’s rare that I feel like I found exactly what I was looking for and researching on the Lowe’s website. Issues like the title/description/image not matching the tool SKU. Or looking for a specific plumbing fitting and finding every other plumbing fitting except the one I need. Or looking for electrical parts and finding apparent duplicate listings for the same items and slightly different prices.
And then managing the cart and actually figuring out what’s in stock locally, what might be ins tock somewhere else in town, and which items get delivered. Ugh.
Nate
> figuring out what’s in stock locally, what might be ins tock somewhere else in town, and which items get delivered.
Amen! This just bit me.
Had a whole cart full of electrical stuff. Didn’t notice the fine print that the breaker panel itself was slated for delivery to the store a week and a half later. Got to the store to pick everything up so I could do the job the next day, and…. the main panel is missing! Kinda hard to do anything without that.
Jumped back on the website (maybe the app? I don’t remember) and found that the panel was in stock at another store 6 miles away. And actually closer to the jobsite so it was only 2 miles out of my way. Hmmmm, wait over a week, or drive an extra 4 miles? So over I went. Got the panel. Did the job.
Afterward, I glanced at my receipt and discovered that I’d WAAY overpaid for the panel. Like, $76 on the original order versus $89 for the one I actually got.
So I called up customer service to see what could be done about this glitch. And they informed me it wasn’t in fact a glitch, but just that individual stores can set whatever prices they feel like, and I bought it from an expensive store, so I paid the expensive price. They would not be issuing a credit for the difference.
Well, a week went by and I got the email that my last item was ready for pickup at the store. I grabbed my $89 receipt, picked up the $76 panel, and said “Hey I’d like to return this unopened item”, and handed them my $89 receipt. Because an item purchased from one store can be returned at any store…
…and after much discussion among the clerks and chuckling at the absurdity of the situation, I got my refund.
What an absolute fiasco and waste of time for everyone involved.
I won’t be back.
MM
This feels like haphazard chaos to me, just like the early days of Walmart’s online shopping, and also the Sears website years ago.
In my opinion Lowe’s site is pretty bad, William nailed most of the problems I encountered too. But I think that most big shopping sites have similar problems. Amazon and Home Depot certainly do: you can search for an exact model number or SKU and the item will be buried in the 3rd page of results, meanwhile the site is filled with all sorts of content that only wastes bandwith and slows down my ability to find what I want. Napa auto parts website is terrible for the same reasons.
I didn’t think I’d say this, but I often miss the old days of strict searches on computer systems, the kind where there is zero autocorrection or suggestions and you can incorporate boolean logic in the search. Yes, that forces me to spell correctly. That’s okay, its a tradeoff I will gladly make if it stops the site from showing me things I have no interest in.
Brad
The best way to search for anything while shopping is to just use google search and put a “site:lowes.com” switch behind it.
That’s about the only way to find things on amazon anymore.
MM
100% agreed.
Joellikestools
I have to use Google to find Kobalt 24v tools since the search function on Lowe’s is almost unusable.
Robert
Lowe’s executives should spend time in front of the SEC.
Ben
Agreed. William and MM nailed it regarding UX.
And if you think the frontend is bad, you should see the backend. My company sells through Lowe’s. Lowe’s consistently manages to screw up our product titles, specifications, categorization, and more — and we submit everything using their own process. I don’t know how they’ve been so consistently incompetent over the years and remained doing relatively well. Then we have to do more work to fix it later when things don’t sell as well through Lowe’s as through other channels, and we notice they’ve somehow categorized (for example) an electrical product as a houseplant.
Home Depot used to be much better on the backend, but now, sadly, they’ve really fallen off too.
MM
Amazon used to be terrible about that as well. Many years ago Amazon actually approached my machining business and asked if we would sell on Amazon. They offered to import the data (pricing, descriptions, etc) from our database…and they did, but it’s clear that someone just ran a script but never bothered to look at the output as the information was all kinds of screwed up. It took a lot of work on our end to fix, and still every once in a while random changes would occur. I recall one morning when I came into the office and my customer service manager told me that overnight Amazon moved a bunch of racing motorcycle clutch parts into the vegan foods category, with several of the parts having been marked “organic”. I haven’t been involved in that business for several years but I don’t think things have improved much. I continue to see all sorts of nonsense data in Amazon listings so I assume things haven’t changed and the backend is a total mess because there really isn’t anyone policing it. Yesterday evening I saw a drill press attachment that was marked as being “wind powered”, a router bit listed as chocolate flavor, and a gearbox for an industrial engine whose shipping weight was 0.097 ounces.
Adam
I’ve never minded Lowe’s site. Seems a bit cleaner than the other retailer I typically shop with, which carries a bit more of the Milwaukee & Ryobi I purchase.
The most atrocious site I’ve encountered, was Napa recently. I wasn’t sure if I was on dial-up or not. I closed all my other tabs thinking something was wrong, to no avail. It was taking so long, I bought some paint to watch dry.
Another Bob
Didn’t lowes fire a bunch of in-house IT folks a few years ago? One would think hiring outside professions would result in a somewhat capable site. I guess lowest bidder isn’t always the best? Maybe it’s a budget thing?
Whatever the issues agree it needs improvement.
Stuart
Yes, but I believe all those folks mainly did store support IT, rather than web .
MKY
My local Lowe’s appears to have corrected the title of the above mentioned tool kit: “Jonard Tools Jonard Tools TK-151 Advanced Fiber Prep Kit”.
Stuart
I now see the same, although it’s still miscategorized as a household tool set.
I’m guessing someone from Lowe’s saw this post and pushed the web team to fix this one thing.
Joe E.
I can’t wait for for the day Halloween Express mounts their banner up where the Lowe’s sign used to be.
MT
Not me. I’m not a huge fan of Lowe’s, but less competition is always bad for consumers.
S
I need to ask, is lowes still competing?
Andy
Lowes website and mobile app are more cumbersome to use than their competitors, so I rarely use them.
This mirrors real life – Lowes is closer to my house than HD, but I prefer to shop at HD since it’s a smoother process. I worked at Lowes in high school and used to shop there much more preferentially than HD; but all of those reasons have since gone by the wayside.
Joe H
For $800, a household toolkit should include a lawnmower thrown in there as well as a cordless drill and a few other things.
Joe E.
Exactly
eddiesky
I hate lowes. Well, that they use Synchrony Bank, and they are charging for paper-bills ($1.99/per month/per statement).
That said, why doesn’t a vendor like Lowes, HD, Ace, …etc., offer a build a tool-bag like Build a Bear for kids?
A set of assorted tools, and small, med, large bag optioned priced accordingly. Then, you get a bag, and pick the tools for the bag.
Dmorgan
“Wait, here’s an even better deal” (he said ironically) : https://www.lowes.com/pd/Jonard-Tools-Jonard-Tools-TK-185PON-FTTH-Prep-Kit-w-PON-Power-Meter/5013582631
Crazy, and clearly they need a site editor because it feels like there’s some bot process creating these listings.
Terry
“Lowe’s executives really need to start shopping on their own website.” Exactly! Lowe’s is the worst but Home Depot isn’t much better. Perhaps it unfair but I guess most e-commerce websites are usually contrasted to Amazon. Perhaps Lowe’s and HD don’t have the resources to compete. Even Walmart is terrible when compare to the big ‘A’. Surely WM has the resources to do better. I don’t like websites that are clumsy, and overly crowded with irrelevant products. I try to avoid them as much as I can. Why are the big players blind to this annoyance?
Farkleberry
I usually find Lowes in store experience similar to HD. They usually have 2×4’s etc., but finding out if something is in stock before going to store is a PITA. Occasionally you can get through on phone to an employee to check, but it invariably takes 20 minutes. Both of them are often wildly off on their inventories, like hundreds of 4×4 posts. Only one or two people in the store know where things, are and/or care to help. There are often apathetic or downright rude employees sitting around chatting, and they’ll lie and say “Oh yeah, we sold all those this morning, the inventory just hasn’t updated.” Then they give dirty looks to the guy who dug them out of the back.
Most people who work there are more dangerous than helpful when answering product questions, I have learned to completely distrust anything they tell you and not waste time asking.
Lowes website is complete trash. It’s like one of those video games where you’ve already killed all the enemies, and are searching around for some hidden button to unlock a door to get to the next level.
Once I wanted to order some promotions where you could buy a battery and charger combo and get a free tool. They would not ship these promotions. The website had no way to check inventories in store or their warehouse besides going through the entire checkout process and finding some combination that didn’t give an error message.
I stupidly recommended a friend order a black Friday promotion from Lowes. They waited until a week later, after all the sales were over to simply cancel his order.
There so many other little glitches and bugs, you can’t browse categories because so many things are missing, you just have to know what you want. Even the Google sponsored advertisement prices are wildly off, wasting your time to click on them.
I’m convinced most execs are completely insulated from any buying or especially customer service experience with their products.
Rog
I think Betteridge’s Law applies here. Lowe’s website is terrible.
Stuart
Argh. I avoided that with the first iteration of the title, and then hastily changed it to one I felt more accurately fit post’s tone.
Rog
That wasn’t a knock on your headline! Keep up the good work
Stuart
I know, but I was disappointed to realize you were right. It’s like carrying an egg on a spoon for 100 feet only to sneeze at the finish line.
MFC
The lowes website is absolute misery. Sometimes it works on my phone, and sometimes it works on my computer. Rarely does it work continuously and I can’t force it to work by restarting it like I can with other apps/websites. I use Home Depot a lot just to look up specs and manuals on things just because their site generally works and has the information I need.
They’ve gotten $15k less this year because I have been able to use HD to get what I need instead of them. I like my Lowes better for it’s customer service and competitive pricing, but hate the online portal.
Mark
I work for a datacomm distributor and Jonard is one of the tool lines we sell. I can speak to the pricing listed on Lowes site. The $799.95 for TK-151 is the minimum advertised price allowed on this product. The MAPs are set by the manufacturer. Almost every manufacturer that I work with has very strict MAP policies that we are required to abide by. For the consumer, the only way around these policies is by working with a salesman at a distributor directly. For example, I would sell TK-151 for $685. Not every brand leaves “room” for distributors in their MAP prices either. Jonard happens to be a company that seems to value working with independent and regional distributors that actually add value to each sale as opposed to just simply fulfillment like Lowes.
Stuart
The pricing doesn’t seem out of line for a fiber tool kit.
My point is that there’s no sense in Lowe’s labeling this kit or categorizing it as a “household tool kit.”
Wayne R.
I’ve found that every “store” that has both web ordering and physical stores throws me every time – I check the web to see if the store carries something, and I’m never right. So I use their web sites less and less.
If they made it clear what’s only in one or the other, and the store is stocked, maybe, but at this stage, I’ll never know.
JM
Fortunately (or Unfortunately!) , I think the Lowe’s Website is LESS BAD than it used to be. Still awful but it used to be worse in my opinion.
Lowes website, search bar, and product hierarchy is still poor compared to other major retail competitor.
Their quantity and accurately of product ATTRIBUTES ( retail industry term) is poor. 16 oz, 12 gauge, white, 2 inch, etc….
Their website stated item inventory vs store reported item inventory vs store REALITY is absolutely terrible. If HD website says store X has 2 units on aisle 7, I rarely find that the store is out or cannot locate the product. Just my experience.
I feel they have lost the contractor/major DIY segment completely, and have shifted more store space to seasonal and holiday. I do feel their quantity and quality of outdoor furniture, BBQ/grill, and Halloween/Christmas is better than HD.
MM
The inventory count is a huge problem. I’ve noticed in my area it’s worse at HD than Lowes but that might be because of what I buy where. The HD employees blame the problem on theft, but in my opinion the problem is institutional. One thing I’ve noticed that is universal regardless of the store–Lowes, HD, the local supermarket…–is that nobody seems to care about the inventory count being wrong. The employees are happy to say “oh, sorry, the website must be wrong we don’t actually have any of those”, but I’ve never once had one say “….thanks for letting us know, I’ll call the manager so they can correct the count”. It’s puzzling to me that nobody seems to care about that, if an error has been identified then should that error not be corrected?
Kyle
I can join the chorus of complaints about inaccurate and incomplete product info. How can they expect to sell hardware, fittings, materials etc. with a website like this? Their entire web design is cribbed from consumer product suppliers, and it completely unsuited for their core business.
Maintaining product descriptions is no less a part of the business as stocking shelves and setting up displays. What kind of retailer would expect customers to dig through a pile of mixed up products dumped on the floor? Any store manager caught allowing that to happen would be fired, but that’s essentially how the website has running for years. They are missing out on sales because of it. Adding more SKUs to the catalog will not drive sales by itself. The customer has to know the product exists, know that you have it, know exactly what version they need, and then how to buy it. The internet has changed how some of those things can be done, but it doesn’t eliminate any requirements.
MM
There are so many companies which have this problem. Amazon is a great example. They have an incredibly massive selection, but if you need something with specific sizes like pipe fittings, specialty nuts and bolts, timing belt or V-belt pulleys, hydraulic cylinders and valves, etc, it is a colossal PITA to find the right item.
Companies like Amazon, Lowes, Home Depot, etc, would do well to learn from McMaster-Carr in that regard.
Stuart
Amazon acquired Small Parts, absorbed it, and called it a day. They relaunched an industrial parts website once, but seems to have abandoned the idea.
John S
I hate the they suddenly decided to undercut Toughbuilt- who was producing a lot of interesting new stuff. Now its all in clearance on the way out.