Home improvement company Lowe’s has announced the launch of its own media and advertising business, One Roof Media Network, designed to “help brand partners drive relevancy and sales with the home lifestyle customer.” As NPR noted last September, the pandemic has spurred a surge in home improvement projects by many homeowners. This spike has continued into 2021, as both Lowe’s and Home Depot benefitted from their essential retail status during the height of the pandemic, and these leading brands have capitalized on that momentum.  

With e-commerce also surging over the last 12-18 months, companies like Lowe’s are aiming to take advantage. CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and other major retailers have also launched their own retail media networks over the last year. Lowe’s now offers ad placement on its website and mobile app, digital and social media extensions to help brands reach customers, sponsored home editorial content on Lowe’s social channels and Lowes.com, and custom research on shopping behaviors. Lowe’s claims that early tests with partners such as Samsung, Kohler, and GE Lighting have produced “significant growth of daily revenue” with “several vendors in the pilot seeing returns over 1,000%.”

Interpret’s New Media Measure® shows that there’s been no slowdown to the home improvement trend, as consumers in the US who have purchased home improvement products rose three percentage points from 54% in 2020 to 57% in 2021. Additionally, since 2019, Lowe’s has seen its customers inch upwards from 26% to 27% of the US population while Home Depot’s base has grown from 30% to 32%.

With its new media network, Lowe’s may be seeking to boost the e-commerce side of its business. Furthermore, as noted by The Drum, there’s a growing awareness by many companies that the media landscape has been changing considerably as tech giants like Apple and Google put in place new privacy measures that make targeted advertising more challenging. With its own ad platform, Lowe’s now has greater capabilities to craft and deliver the right messages to its target audience and those of its brand partners.