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Lowe's Tool Rental Initiative to Aid Sales Amid Pandemic

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Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW - Free Report) is cheering its customers by introducing a one-stop shop for all tools and equipment in the form of its new tool rental department. This new program is likely to serve as a boon for Pro and DIY customers who want to complete their home improvement projects amid this ongoing pandemic. This program will be rolled out nationwide with the first store launching today at Charlotte, NC.

This move will save customers from the pain of buying a new tool or equipment every time they think of refurbishing their homes. With this program, pro customers will no more need to bear the cost of owning, maintaining and storing the tools.

Keeping in these lines, Pro customers have been significantly driving Lowe's business growth. As a result, the company has refurbished its pro-service business website, LowesForPros.com, in order to give special attention to the needs of its Pro-customers. Apparently, the company delivered solid pro comps in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, driven by retail-fundamentals strategy. Moreover, better pro products and services as well as the new Pro loyalty platform bode well.

Coming back to the news, Lowe’s new initiative comes with the latest fleet of commercial-grade equipment belonging to reputed brands, namely Husqvarna, Bosch and Metabo HPT. Apart from these, customers will be treated to a wide array of options, such as products related to drain cleaning, restoration, sanitation and concrete tools along with merchandises to accompany rental tools, such as protective equipment and cleaning solutions. The store will also have well-trained associates for product demonstrations.

For further convenience of customers particularly amid the ongoing coronavirus situation, the company has arranged for a hassle-free check-in and check-out process. Such well-chalked plans will enable customers to practice social distancing, which currently is the need of the hour. In this context, customers can reserve their products online or opt for a self-service kiosk option. Also, it is going digital with the documents related to the purchase, which can be signed and verified on mobile.

Moving on, it recently revealed that consumer focus on the home, core-repair and maintenance activities fueled sales during second-quarter fiscal 2020. The company saw comparable-sales growth of more than 20% across all its merchandising divisions, while all the U.S. geographic regions posted comparable-sales increase of at least 30% in the fiscal second quarter. Moving ahead, momentum in sales continued in August.

All said, we remain optimistic about this latest initiative, which is likely to drive this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock that has gained 31.2% in the past three months, outperforming the industry’s growth of 22.3%.

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