* CFO sees online business contributing more to sales in 5
years
* CFO sees potential for more acquisitions to boost online
business
* Sees opportunity to expand further in Canada
* Calls Canadian rival Rona “a very interesting company”
* CFO says open to “all options” when asked about Lowe’s
interest in buying Rona
By Dhanya Skariachan
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., April 3 (Reuters) – Lowe’s Cos Inc
, the world’s second-largest home improvement chain, is
working on its own home project.
After underperforming larger rival Home Depot Inc on
same-store sales for 11 straight quarters, Lowe’s is now
investing in everything from in-store technology to its online
business to win back shoppers from the industry leader.
“We recognized that a lot of our ills aren’t just
housing-related or macro-related, (but) just some things we
needed to fix ourselves,” Robert Hull, who has served as Lowe’s
chief financial officer since March 2003, told Reuters on
Tuesday.
Hull said Lowe’s online business, which accounted for about
1 percent of total sales in 2011, could easily account for 5 to
10 percent of sales in five years. The company, which recently
bought online home-goods chain ATG Stores, said there was
potential for more acquisitions to boost that business.
Hull also sees opportunity for the retailer to expand
further in Canada and have a total of about 100 stores in that
market. It has 31 stores in that market currently, and they are
mostly in Ontario.
Hull said he was open to “all options” when asked about
Lowe’s interest in buying Canadian rival Rona Inc, if
that chain puts itself up for sale.
Some investors said late last year that it made sense for
the two chains to get together to better fight Home Depot.
He called Rona a “very interesting company” and said it had
many attractive qualities like its footprint in Quebec, a market
where Lowe’s has hardly any presence at the moment.
Hull, who expects Lowe’s recent makeover to start bearing
fruit in 2012, said seasonal products have sold well so far this
spring.
(Reporting By Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
