{"id":76982,"date":"2025-11-28T16:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/?p=76982"},"modified":"2025-11-28T16:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:21:17","slug":"lowes-advances-inventory-optimization-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/lowes-advances-inventory-optimization-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowe\u2019s advances inventory optimization efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">2 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/806501\/2025-11-26_10.21.36\/lowes-sku-cutting-efforts-inventory-q3.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Dive Brief:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Lowe\u2019s has made progress on its <span><span><span>SKU<\/span><\/span><\/span> rationalization efforts to drive inventory productivity, leading to a 50-basis-point increase in Q3 gross margin,\u00a0according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/4845659-lowes-companies-inc-low-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nov. 19 earnings <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/4845659-lowes-companies-inc-low-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">call<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The retailer is set to achieve its goal of slashing 15% of in-store SKUs by the end of 2025, Bill Boltz, executive vice president of merchandising, told analysts.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe&#8217;ve seen really good sell-through results thus far on the inventory that we&#8217;re exiting there. That really was the core of the composition of the 50 basis points that we saw in Q3,\u201d CFO Brandon Sink said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Dive Insight:<\/h3>\n<p>Lowe\u2019s ended Q3 with inventory at $17.2 billion, down approximately $400 million compared to the previous year, Sink told analysts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis net decrease also reflects the inclusion of inventory from recent acquisitions of approximately $600 million and higher tariffs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Lowe&#8217;s credited the gains from lower inventory to several productivity initiatives. Sink said the retailer leveraged artificial intelligence inventory solutions to optimize demand planning, allocation and replenishment while also bolstering its SKU rationalization efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Lowe\u2019s efforts to optimize its inventory mix are part of its supplier diversification strategy. In May, executives said the company is taking a disciplined approach to reviewing its inventory, including individual <span><span>SKUs<\/span><\/span>, product categories, line structures and assortments.<\/p>\n<p>SKU management is a critical tool for retailers, and one several have leaned on in recent years. For instance,\u00a0<span>SKU<\/span> reductions have been a \u201cbig win\u201d for discount retailer Dollar General, CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supplychaindive.com\/news\/dollar-general-sku-reduction-inventory-management\/750207\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Todd Vasos told analysts in June<\/a>. At the time, Vasos said Dollar General cut 1,000 <span><span>SKUs<\/span><\/span> last year and intended to cut more this year.<\/p>\n<p>Advance Auto Parts has also been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supplychaindive.com\/news\/advance-auto-parts-sku-management-q3-inventory\/733241\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">targeting unproductive SKUs<\/a> as part of a larger inventory overhaul. Last year, the auto parts retailer expected to undertake up to 250 line reviews.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Published by Dralys Blog \u2013 Stories | Insights | Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Discover more on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dralysstore.com\" target=\"_blank\">DralysStore.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pld-like-dislike-wrap pld-template-2\">\r\n    <div class=\"pld-like-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-like-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"76982\" data-trigger-type=\"like\" data-restriction=\"no\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-heart\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-like-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\">    <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the article 2 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":75526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[74,34,65,176,45,177,10],"class_list":["post-76982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dralys-insights","tag-dralys","tag-e-commerce","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-ecosystem","tag-innovation","tag-smart-shopping","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/play.svg.svg+xml","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76983,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76982\/revisions\/76983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}