Lowe's Puts GPT-4o in Every Store: 1,700 Locations, 300,000 Daily Questions

Lowe's has completed a 100 percent rollout of Mylow Companion, a GPT-4o-powered mobile app for its Red Vest associates, across all 1,700 of its US stores. The tool, built with OpenAI, gives floor staff conversational answers on products, installation steps, availability, and compatibility in any department — even ones outside their usual roles.

The deployment is the internal half of a two-sided AI strategy. Lowe's already runs Mylow, a conversational advisor embedded on Lowes.com that answers open-ended customer questions with step-by-step guidance, product recommendations, and links to how-to articles and videos. Both experiences run on the same OpenAI foundation.

The stakes are considerable for a retailer whose customers are not buying impulse items. Home improvement projects routinely run into thousands of dollars, span multiple store visits, and demand specialized knowledge that big-box retail has always struggled to deliver consistently at scale.

"When you're buying a t-shirt and it doesn't fit, you just return it. No big deal," says Seemantini Godbole, EVP, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Lowe's. "But if you're renovating a kitchen or redoing your floors, those are expensive decisions. You want to feel confident. And that requires expertise."

The knowledge gap

Lowe's stores run up to 130,000 square feet and stock tens of thousands of SKUs. Even veteran associates cannot master the full catalog. The problem has intensified as the workforce has shifted toward younger, seasonal, and cross-trained employees who move between departments.

"Not everyone on the floor has trade experience," says Vinny Scalese, SVP of Store Operations. "But every time a customer sees someone in a red vest, they expect an answer. That's a lot of pressure. We wanted to give every associate the confidence of a ten-year veteran."

The trigger for acceleration, according to Lowe's executives, was customer behavior that shifted in 2023.

"ChatGPT changed expectations," says Joe Cano, SVP of Digital Commerce. "Customers now expect fast, expert answers 24/7. They want to describe their project in natural language and get help–not open ten tabs to figure out what mulch works in their zip code."

Godbole frames the company's approach as structural rather than incremental. "We've been really intentional," she says. "We didn't want to just update our systems. We wanted to rewire the entire business to support projects, not just products."