READ THIS NEXT: 5 Warnings to Shoppers From Ex-Lowe’s Employees. This isn’t the first change that Lowe’s has made in 2022. Earlier this summer, the company unveiled plans to move into the metaverse, with its new virtual reality platform Lowe’s Open Builder. Through the platform, shoppers can access and download 500 metaverse product “assets”—like home décor and furniture—for free. Open Builder helps you get a sense of what your home improvement project will look like before making any big commitments or investments. The assets are 3D, and you can design and experiment with different décor items like rugs, patio sets, and other accents. In February, Lowe’s also announced a partnership with the delivery service Instacart, allowing customers to shop for over 20,000 products online and have them delivered the same day. Now, the retailer is expanding this offering, helping shoppers nationwide save more time. If you’re familiar with Instacart, you probably think of groceries, which is what the app is best known for. But thanks to its partnership with Lowe’s, Instacart also delivers home improvement supplies, meaning you can get same-day delivery for nuts and bolts or even festive fall decorations. The partnership was piloted at select Lowe’s locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Boston, Massachusetts in the winter. But as of Sept. 8, same-day delivery is now available at over 1,700 Lowe’s stores across the U.S., the company announced in a press release. According to ScrapeHero, the home improvement chain operates a total of 1,728 locations in 1,258 cities. “As the seasons change, we know customers are thinking about how to get their homes ready for fall,” Chris Rogers, chief business officer at Instacart, said in the press release. “We’re excited to offer Lowe’s wide variety of home improvement essentials for delivery across the country so customers can get exactly what they need, seamlessly. Connecting customers to their favorite retailers is at the core of what we do, and we’re proud to help Lowe’s expand their e-commerce offering to serve their customers in a new way.” RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. Back in February, when Instacart and Lowe’s first started working together, 20,000 items were available for shoppers. According to the latest press release, the retailer has since upped this number to include a whopping 30,000 items.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb The service is available in all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Lowe’s shoppers will be some of the first to have same-day and scheduled delivery of larger items via Instacart. According to the press release, to be delivered, items can’t be bigger than three feet by three feet by five feet, or over 60 pounds. Still, a wide variety of products fit that criteria, and Lowe’s notes that it’s “one of the only retailers today that sells non-mixed paint on the Instacart App, offering non-tinted paint and assorted paint supplies for customers.” According to the press release, the expansion of Instacart services at Lowe’s is timed ahead of the hectic holiday season. If you want to avoid that hustle and bustle, you have all the more reason to take advantage of this new feature. “Lowe’s knows how much this time of year means to our customers. Whether they are rounding out their Halloween decorating or getting started on holiday prep and gifting, we’re able to offer more products, more convenience and more value for customers as we continue to improve the shopping experience in-store and online,” Mike Shady, Lowe’s senior vice president of online, said in the press release. “We’re excited to open up this new fulfillment offering across the U.S. for customers to shop for all of their project needs.” It’s pretty simple to get started as well. Visit the site and click the “Start Shopping” option. This will take you to Lowe’s Instacart page, where you can input your delivery information and address to find the store nearest to you. Once you’ve picked out all of your items, you select a “delivery timeframe” for when your Instacart shopper will pick up and deliver the items—which can be as quick as an hour. Just like when you use Instacart with other stores, you can chat with your shopper and track them as they make their way to you.
