Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores Rethink Their Iris Smart Home Business

Mooresville, N.C.— Last Spring Lowe’s made a concerted effort to go full steam ahead on the smart home experience by expanding their connected-home shopping experience to dozens of their stores across the U.S. However now it appears that they will be dumping their own smart home business, Iris.

 

Lowe’s, which has in excess of 2,000 locations, recently announced their plans to exit the home automation market and they are now aggressively seeking a buyer for their Iris Smart Home business as part of a “strategic reassessment “.

 

This latest announcement is the latest of multiple tactical maneuvers by Lowe’s that include closing its Orchard Supply Hardware business, selling its Alacrity Renovation Service and shutting down all of its locations in Mexico. Additionally they have now shut down more than 50 locations in the U.S. and Canada. 

 

Lowe’s President and CEO, Marvin Ellison, stated, “Our priority this quarter was taking the necessary steps to build a sustainable foundation to position Lowe’s long term success by exiting underperforming stores of noncore businesses. This will allow us to …focus on our core retail business”.

 

The abandoning of their Iris product is quite a change in strategy for Lowe’s. It is important to recall that back in 2015 Lowe’s impressed CES attendees with their Innovation Lab which featured prodigious levels of technology including robot technology. 

 

Lowe’s launched Iris in 2012 at a price point of $179 for thermostat control, smart plugs, etc. The Iris hub features ZigBee, Z-Wave and WiFi. It also had a cellular module along with the control of cameras and door locks.

 

Brant Henke, President of American Guardian, an ADT Security provider in the Atlanta area related, “The marketplace for home automation and smart home technology has become increasingly crowded in recent months. In my view the Iris misadventure is but one casualty of many more to come as the industry consolidates. ADT Security is now the largest provider of smart home technology in the nation and they continue to set the pace for excellence as they dominate the marketplace.”