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Retail Marketing

Lowe's teams up with IoT experts b8ta to launch "Smart Home" retail experience

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By Bennett Bennett, Staff writer

November 10, 2017 | 3 min read

Home improvement chain Lowe’s launched a curated section of internet of things (IoT) devices called ‘Smart Home powered by b8ta’. This ‘store-within-a-store’ experience is a partnership with software-focused retailer b8ta, where customers can easily discover, learn and try the latest technologies for the home.

b8ta and Lowe's Smart Home

Lowe's launches "store-within-a-store" experience "Smart Home powered by b8ta"

Each of these destinations, located in 70 Lowe’s locations nationwide, and features a curated selection of house-ready IoT products, and offers customers onsite support from specially-trained ‘b8ta Testers.’ The wood-paneled aisles near the front of the store lead consumers to these sections and give them a fully immersive format with an array of items: thermostats to security systems, speakers to lighting.

The brands displayed at each ‘Smart Home powered by b8ta’ are familiar to most consumers already: Sonos, GE, Google, Nest, Samsung, and Ring. All these items are at reach, for hands-on interactions and Lowe’s customers are given smartphones to interact with each of these devices to better simulate the way they’d use them at home.

Aside from these 70 locations, Lowe’s unveiled specialized smart home displays at 1,000 locations and has enhanced their online shopping experience to cater to the growing IoT market. This partnership allowed b8ta to expand their reach outside their mostly West Coast footprint, and helps further their own approach of ‘retail-as-a-service.’

Co-founder and chief brand officer Phillip Raub, said: “b8ta makes shopping for connected home products accessible and easy.” He continued: “Nationwide, consumers will have the opportunity to engage and demo a curated selection of connected products, with knowledgeable product experts on-hand to navigate consumers through their journey,"

As retailers continue to counter the disruption caused by e-retailers, Lowe's and b8ta will look to use this symbiotic relationship to bring another level to home improvement.

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