Next Big Thing: A Holoroom How-To
Lowe's Canada is rolling out the latest iteration of the Lowe's Innovation Labs' Holoroom.
The Holoroom How-To is an on-demand virtual reality skills clinic that aims to address the evolution of home improvement learning and skills.
The training tool allows customers to learn DIY on their own terms, immersing them in a DIY project – such as tiling a shower – with step-by-step instructions to complete the task.
Haptic feedback, such as feeling the vibration of a drill through the controller, adds to the life-like experience, without the waste or mess of testing a DIY project in the real world.
The concept is debuting this month at a Burlington, Ontario, Lowe's, and in a few weeks in a RONA store in Beloeil, Québec. The Holoroom How To proof-of-concept made its first appearance at a Lowe's store in Framingham, Massachusetts.
"We are excited to be a partner of Lowe's Innovation Labs and to make the Holoroom How To experience available to our Canadian customers, as it clearly illustrates how innovation can enable us to go one step further in supporting and inspiring our customers in their renovation projects," said Claire Bara , VP strategy and business insights for Lowe's Canada. "The Canadian market represents a great platform for the Lowe's Innovation Labs to test some exciting new projects. With its diverse portfolio of brands and store formats, Lowe's Canada offers many varied opportunities for learning," said Claire Bara.
There's been some initial testing of the technology, which has proven an increase in recall and customer confidence and motivation to take on DIY projects.
Lowe's will be evaluating customer response over the next several months to further determine how it impacts customer learning and confidence.
"During the past three years, we have been exploring real-life applications of augmented and virtual reality experiences to directly help our customers solve everyday problems," said Kyle Nel , executive director of Lowe's Innovation Labs, the company's disruptive innovation hub. "Our experience has shown that customers are embracing AR/VR as part of their home improvement journey, and now, we are using immersive VR to help our customers learn the required skills to complete challenging home improvement projects."