Lowe’s is the official home improvement retailer of the National Football League. It will also be one place where some customers can go on Sunday to listen to the Super Bowl broadcast. What will Lowe’s in-store broadcast of the Super Bowl mean to customers and associates in the chain’s stores in Kansas City, Philadelphia and Phoenix?

It’s good to be Tractor Supply. The retailer is on a multiyear winning streak, posting record sales and profits and grabbing market share from a long list of competitors. How long can Tractor Supply keep its winning streak going?

Lowe’s may be giving new meaning to the term lifetime customer value. The home improvement retailer is looking to appeal to consumers as young as five-years-old with a new pilot offering in-store birthday parties for kids. Do you expect Lowe’s “Build a Birthday” party pilot to be a success and widely scaled across the chain’s stores?

Lowe’s is bringing all of its One Roof Media Network ad sales and operations in-house. The home improvement retailer said the move will allow it to control all elements of its relationship with advertisers and partner with them in ways to achieve more meaningful interactions with shoppers. Will advertisers benefit from Lowe’s decision to bring its retail media operations under one roof?

Lowe’s last week updated its plan to drive market share growth in the home improvement category. The chain’s “Total Home Strategy” seeks to achieve growth across five areas: professional contractors and construction professionals, online sales, installation services, localization and elevated product assortment. What are the keys to Lowe’s achieving the goals of its Total Home Strategy?

Lowe’s is looking to simplify. The home improvement retailer last week disclosed that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Canadian operations to the private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $400 million in cash and future performance-based considerations. What do you see as Lowe’s strengths and weaknesses over the next year and beyond?

Home Depot is partnering with a short-term rental platform so that when people are on vacation at one particular location, they’ll see what a trip or two to the retailer can do for them when they get home. Will customers staying at the Vrbo rental property make the connection to Home Depot and shop the retailer accordingly?

Lowe’s said on Tuesday that it was doing away with the CMO role and that its marketing team would now report to Bill Boltz, executive vice president of merchandising. Does it make sense for retailers to move their marketing operations under merchandising as they focus more on sales promotion activity?

Tractor Supply is making changes to its Neighbor’s Club rewards program, putting greater emphasis on building closer relationships with the pet parents who shop in its stores. What do you think will be the result of Tractor Supply’s decision to clearly link its name and rewards with its Petsense business?

In mid-June, The Home Depot handed out more than 125,000 “hdPhones,” or newfangled mobile devices, to store associates to help assist and speed customers’ journeys. Are mobile devices assigned to store associates elevating the customer experience or falling short of promises?

Lowe’s has joined the growing list of brands and retailers stepping into the metaverse with hopes of someday building tangible results in the real world.  Is Lowe’s decision to launch its own hub for 3-D assets instead of choosing an established metaverse platform the right decision?

The Home Depot is seeking more than 100,000 new associates ahead of the chain’s spring season, its busiest of the year, at a time when finding staff for stores and warehouses has become more challenging for retailers across the country.  Will quicker turnarounds on job offers help Home Depot bring more job seekers on board?

Lowe’s customers in several states will not only be able to buy products for their household projects in the chain’s stores but can now also shop for dog food and other pet products. Do you expect the Lowe’s/Petco pilot to prove successful and to be scaled to more locations?

Lowe’s recently formed a two-year partnership with AARP to provide strategies and information for older adults aging in their homes. Do you see a focus on home improvement strategies, materials and information for older adults aging in place as the right move for Lowe’s to make?

Home Depot is hiring Walmart to handle local deliveries for its stores.The retailers revealed today that they are teaming up to give Home Depot’s customers another way to have their online orders delivered on the same or next day.What does the Walmart/Home Depot GoLocal deal mean for each company?

Home Depot has come up with a creative, tech-savvy way to thwart organized criminals from stealing tools off of their shelves. Do you see in-store activation at the point of checkout as being a good way to thwart organized theft rings?

A recent softening in the red-hot housing market and a reduction in homeowners tackling DIY projects has raised concerns about near-term growth rates for Home Depot and Lowe’s.  Do you see near-term sales pressures for home improvement chains as the U.S. economy opens up?

Tractor Supply never had to “go country” because it’s always been that way. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t welcome former denizens of the nation’s cities as customers when they move to the rural and exurban markets the retailer serves. Do you see demographic mobility trends continuing to favor Tractor Supply?

Kroger has just joined a few other retailers in launching a contest in search of new suppliers. The competition encourages local and regional growers across fresh categories to apply online for a chance to partake in the Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator. What do you think of competitions and pitch programs as a path for retailers to discover new brands?

In separate virtual sessions last week at the 2021 NRF Big Show, Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s and Wayfair co-founder and CEO Niraj Shah shared perspectives on how each of the businesses’ operations have set them up for success. What do you see as the biggest impediments to operational excellence throughout retailing today?

It’s not that U.S. retail businesses don’t produce strong Christmas commercials, but year-after-year spots by chains in countries around the world do a great job sparking laughs and happy tears and generally putting consumers in the holiday mood to shop.  Which of the two commercials introduced in the article do you think is more effective?

Lowe’s says homes have been a place of refuge for Americans under the cloud of the pandemic and now is a perfect time to purchase items that will make staying at home more comfortable and enjoyable. Do you expect Americans to “gift” their homes in a big way this holiday season?

Lowe’s announced that it plans to have self-service pickup lockers installed at its stores in most major metropolitan areas by Thanksgiving and those remaining by the end of March 2021.  How do you rank the benefits of lockers versus traditional counter pickup services for consumers and retailers?

Lowe’s has its sights set on becoming a significant player in the tool rental market for professional construction trade customers and ambitious do-it-yourselfers working on home projects. Do you expect rentals to continue to grow in the years ahead?

Rivals Home Depot and Lowe’s have each announced this month that they are taking steps to outpace the other when it comes to the delivery and pickup of online orders. Has the coronavirus pandemic created a paradigm shift in how consumers and professional customers purchase from home improvement retailers?

Lowe’s is introducing a new tool that will enable carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other construction professionals to meet with customers to discuss projects without having to go to their homes. Is Lowe’s for Pros JobSIGHT a technology tool that building trade professionals and their customers will welcome at this time?

Same-store sales jumped 12.3 percent at Lowe’s and 7.5 percent at Home Depot in their first-quarters as sheltering Americans found time to tackle household projects. What factors will be most critical in determining the performance of home improvement retailers in the short- and medium-term?

The reality at stores classified as “essential” since the coronavirus outbreak has been that a lot of planned sales promotion activity has been paused. Have you noticed a reduction in temporary price reductions, promotional endcaps and ads from “essential” retailers in recent weeks?

The Michigan Attorney General has sent a cease and desist letter to Menards after investigators determined that the home improvement retailer was preying on the public’s fear about coronavirus by systematically raising prices of items in high demand. Does Menards have a public relations problem on its hands following the cease and desist letter for price gouging?

Shoplifting is a perennial problem for retailers, but some sectors of retail have observed an uptick in an even more costly — and sometimes more dangerous — form of theft. What should retailers do to address organized retail crime as it continues to expand in severity and costliness?

Ace Hardware has closed on the acquisition of Handyman Matters Franchise, a franchisor of home repair and maintenance services. What synergies do you see coming from Ace Hardware’s acquisition of Handyman Matters Franchise?

Lowe’s will sell NFL-branded merchandise online and reserve space in select stores for fan merchandise geared to local teams for the first time, and launch an online “homegating” video series to inspire football fans as they prepare for the NFL season. Is homegating still an underserved opportunity overall for retail?

Lowe’s is eliminating “thousands” of assembly and maintenance worker jobs and outsourcing them to third-party companies. Will outsourcing assembly and maintenance tasks enable store level associates to spend more time on the sales floor serving customers as Lowe’s has indicated?

In its earnings announcement this week, Home Depot said that same-stores sales in the fourth quarter rose 3.7 percent, below the 4.5 percent increase expected by analysts, because of weather conditions across the country. Do you think retailers fully understand the impact of weather on sales performance?

Home Depot may be the biggest name in home improvement, but Lowe’s is hoping to change that by partnering with the biggest name in professional sports. How will Lowe’s sponsorship of the NFL affect the public’s perception of its brand?

As Lowe’s Hardware struggles to turn itself around and get out of Home Depot’s shadow, it is branding itself with a new tagline that has struck some as a little familiar. Do you think Lowe’s under Marvin Ellison is developing a unique point of difference in its daily competition with Home Depot?

Yesterday, Marvin Ellison announced that Lowe’s would shutter all 99 of its Orchard Supply Hardware stores and a distribution center used to supply them by the end of the year. Is Lowe’s making the right decision to shutter Orchard Supply Hardware?

It didn’t take long for Lowe’s new president and CEO, Marvin Ellison, to begin shaking things up at the home improvement chain. Will his previous experience at Home Depot help Marvin Ellison develop a strategy to compete more effectively against Lowe’s larger rival?

Home Depot plans to install pickup lockers near the front of all of its stores in an effort to improve its buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) operations and become bottleneck free. What do you see as the pros and cons of Home Depot’s chainwide BOPIS lockers strategy?

Home Depot revealed plans to spend $1.2 billion adding distribution sites and shipping hubs over the next five years to speed delivery to most of the U.S. market within a day. What will achieving its goal of offering same- or next-day delivery to 90 percent of the U.S. population mean for Home Depot and its rivals?

Home Depot says it will invest $50 million to train 20,000 tradespeople over the next 10 years in order to fill a growing shortage of construction and other trade workers. What benefits do you see from Home Depot’s $50 million commitment to create trade jobs?

Lowe’s Hardware has more customers coming through the door these days, but those customers aren’t spending like the chain needs them to spend. Does Lowe’s failure to drive higher conversions indicate that its high-profile investments in tech aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

Lowe’s is introducing Track to the Trades, an internal initiative that will help employees who want to pursue trade careers. The move addresses the tight U.S. labor market in trades. Will providing associates with support to pursue trade careers be an effective recruitment and retention tool for Lowe’s?

Is Ace Hardware’s friendly service coming to a Kroger near you? According to a report by TheStreet, the two companies are in the early stages of discussing adding Ace store-within-a-store concepts to Kroger locations. Do you think Ace stores inside of Kroger would work?

Extending its position as the one-stop solution for the home, Home Depot acquired The Company Store, the online seller of bedding, bath and related categories. Terms were not disclosed. In what ways do you see Home Depot benefitting from its acquisition of The Company Store?

While Christmas may not be as critical to the annual performance of the two chains as the spring cleanup and planting season, that doesn’t mean Home Depot and Lowe’s are complacent when it comes to trying to attract customers for the holidays. Which do you think does a better job of connecting with each company’s core customers while reaching out to new shoppers?

Home Depot’s shares are at an all-time high as the home improvement retailer has been buoyed by a continuing strong housing market and its investments in digital operations and elsewhere. Even national disasters have worked to Home Depot’s advantage. What do you see as the biggest improvements Home Depot has made to the way it operates in recent years?

Move over Best Buy and Amazon.com, Lowe’s and Macy’s want to also help consumers transform their homes with the Internet of Things. Do you see an opportunity for a range of retailers such as Lowe’s and Macy’s to exploit the smart home trend?

Ace has purchased a majority share in The Grommet, an online start-up that markets products created by entrepreneurs and inventors available online, boasting such consumer hits as Sodastream and FitBit on the site. Does the acquisition of The Grommet make sense for the Ace brand?

Google is on a retail roll. Home Depot announced it will join Google Express this fall with shoppers being able to place voice orders using Google Assistant with the tech giant’s Home speaker device or mobile app. Do you expect to see many more retailers on Google Express to implement ordering via voice with Google Assistant?