Exactly two decades ago Orchard Hardware Supply (commonly known as OSH) was on top of the hardware retailing world.\u00a0 The company\u2019s 40,000 sq. ft. prototype was thought to be a big box innovator for the typically old-fashioned, neighborhood hardware store, as just a few years earlier, Home Depot established the home center warehouse model to pretty much eclipse the post-World War II innovation- the home improvement center.<\/p>\n
At this time Orchard had gained local, as well as, significant national notoriety by filling its voluminous stores with a rarely seen depth and breadth of product, including several of which were offered more as a service to local communities and not typically seen in hardware stores.<\/p>\n
During a drought, Orchard management brought in much appreciated quantities of bottled water. \u00a0When the water shortage abated, OSH naturally decided to end its water run, only to discover that many in the community continued to demand water in appreciation of Orchard\u2019s earlier efforts.<\/p>\n
On surveying its clientele, OSH discovered that many loyal customers then felt an even stronger bond with the retailer as they recalled what they considered to be a supreme effort to aid the stricken community by bringing in product not normally associated with hardware. \u00a0While interviewing company execs at this time, one could hear their exhilaration over this customer glee, even over the phone.<\/p>\n
Orchard was then so admired that in 1996 the company was acquired by Sears.\u00a0 Sears had been so enamored with OSH that it anticipated converting its then current crop of Sears Hardware Stores to smaller versions of the Orchard model, with future openings to better copy Orchard\u2019s prototype.\u00a0 That of course never happened.<\/p>\n
Shortly after its Orchard acquisition, Sears decided to maintain both its Orchard and Sears hardware entities as was.\u00a0 OSH remained a fairly progressive retailer but seemed stifled by the limits of Sear\u2019s management.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2013, Sears spun off Orchard Supply Hardware as it has done with several acquisitions in recent years. A few months later, Orchard found itself buried in debt by the terms of the Sears divestiture.<\/p>\n
Orchard quickly filed for a chapter 11 reorganization, which led to a bargain priced acquisition by Lowe\u2019s.\u00a0 At the time many industry experts saw this as a hopeful return to Orchard\u2019s glory days.\u00a0 Some saw Orchard as the future of Lowe\u2019s expansion plans as fewer communities remain which can accommodate the Lowe\u2019s big box prototype.<\/p>\n
Now it becomes clear that Lowe\u2019s expectations for Orchard\u2019s future continue, unlike Sear\u2019s flagging enthusiasm shortly after its OSH acquisition.\u00a0 Lowe’s has announced that through its new Lowe’s Innovation Labs division, it will embark on a project which will equip test stores with in-store robotic shopping assistants.<\/p>\n
The initial entry location will be at an OSH store in Orchard\u2019s hometown of San Jose, CA.\u00a0 Aside from this as an indicator of confidence in the future of its OSH acquisition, it is likely that Lowe\u2019s chose the location because of San Jose\u2019s proximity to the minds of cutting edge technology at Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
There are of course questions as to the viability of robots at this stage of the technological retailing challenge.\u00a0 Currently these robots are expensive and are likely cost prohibitive in terms of a rollout for a large chain.\u00a0 They do however offer several interesting positives.<\/p>\n
These robotic \u2018assistants\u2019 are programmed to see and speak with shoppers.\u00a0 They can usher customers to the products they seek, even by viewing an item the customer seeks to match or to locate similar wares.\u00a0 The ability to understand and speak multiple languages bodes well for serving customers in our increasingly multi-lingual society.<\/p>\n
The robots will be introducing themselves to store visitors by their name \u2018OSHbot\u2019.\u00a0 The robots can facilitate live conversations with store associates.\u00a0 Frequent reprogramming allows the robots to navigate customers to their desired location despite store redesigns or store promotions.\u00a0 The OSHbot also offers touchscreens to foster product searches.<\/p>\n
One must wonder how many customers will find these programmed associates lacking as they seek do it yourself advice and guidance, typically from a floor-based associate.\u00a0 The store may see a similar lacking as human associates can often upsell or recommend associated products to purchase, in order to complete a project.<\/p>\n
Many see these robots as an early step in the future of technology for all retailing.\u00a0 Hardware retailing has often been seen as particularly technologically challenged.\u00a0 Thus, this is a truly amazing step for this market.<\/p>\n
Two decades ago, many top industry executives were actively trying to avoid classes in learning how to use their personal computers.\u00a0 That Lowe\u2019s is actively charging a newly created division, Innovation Labs, with pursuing technology to help determine its future, is a powerful sign that this industry is actually leading the way in the ever more competitive field of technical commerce, which will move the future of 21st<\/sup> century retailing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Exactly two decades ago Orchard Hardware Supply (commonly known as OSH) was on top of the hardware retailing world.\u00a0 The company\u2019s 40,000 sq. ft. prototype was thought to be a big box innovator for the typically old-fashioned, neighborhood hardware store, as just a few years earlier, Home Depot established the home center warehouse model to… Continue reading Lowe's and Its Orchard Are Becoming Robotic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-4384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-hardware","tag-insight","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}