Business Assessment

 For this week's look into a business's online presence, I will be critiquing my own employer, Lowe's. I say this to my customers every day: It's not Lowe's without technical difficulties. It's basically part of my job description to tell customers how the website steered them wrong. 

These issues most often arise out of the main website for customer use, lowes.com. Upon first glance, you're greeted with bright shades of blue and a lot of information. A lot is going on here, but Lowe's handles such a wide variety of material that it's almost necessarily excessive. I just so happened to screenshot on my department's ad! 

A thorough scroll will show you relentless advertisements for all of the deals that Lowe's has currently. Christmas in July. The promotion with Messi. And the usual contact links at the bottom of the page. Overall, it's standard for a major corporation. But the amount of ads is over the top. If you're going here for a specific item, you may not even see most of them! It did assume, though, that I am in Arvada when my own store is here in Colorado Springs. 

 Although Lowe's as a company is trying ever so hard to cater to the "Pros" - everyone from contractors to landlords - they still have a majority DIY customer base. There are several resources for these DIY-ers, like guides on selecting products, in-depth tutorials, and product selection beyond your wildest dreams. Lowe's consistently communicates that they are a DIY friendly store, and this shines through in their website. Even the imagery with many shades of blue, rounded designs, and an appealing font presents the idea of friendliness.

Most of the time, customers are navigating the website and looking at individual product information. My favorite product in the store is this vinyl flooring: Blue Ridge Pine.

Once again, I'm almost overwhelmed by the amount of information I'm being shown. Product images, different colors, links and buttons and text all closely grouped together on the page. The formatting is efficient but not all that nice to look at. Scrolling provides me with more information: credit cards, online ordering, locations, installation, etc! So much information, it's hard to sort through it all. 

Overall, I think Lowe's' website is effective at communicating its messages, promoting its promotions, and selling products! Customers have practically all the information they need at their fingertips, in a navigable website, as long as they interpret the information correctly. While efficiency is a staple of online communication, too much information is still too much. I think there is room for improvement in the website's formatting, mostly to provide a customer experience that is easier on the eyes. As much as I complain about the advertisements, it makes complete sense for a company to stuff its own website full of its promotions. Maybe I'm just tired of hearing about it all day!

There are communication problems, however, that aren't immediately (or at all) noticeable through the website. Oftentimes, customers will assume we have product in the store, even though it clearly states that they wouldn't be able to pick it up for a week. It's an absolute nightmare trying to get in touch with someone over the phone. Lowe's also relies on its website to carry a lot more stock than is available in stores, when many customers come in specifically to see it firsthand. So, once you start digging, Lowe's various online communications are not as user-friendly as they seem to be.