Lowe’s has added its third-party marketplace to the tablets used by store associates. Across more than 1,700 stores, roughly 97% of the chain, staff can now sell items Lowe's does not stock and let the seller ship straight to the customer. The payoff is a wider aisle and broader fulfillment reach with no new warehouse or inventory spend.
How it works: Associates pull up marketplace items alongside Lowe's own inventory on a single screen and complete the sale in store. The third-party seller handles pick, pack and ship. Lowe's carries no inventory and no warehouse cost, turning stores into sales channels for dropship volume. Customers, associates say, “almost largely wouldn't even really know the difference” between a stocked item and a marketplace listing.
How we got here: Lowe’s debuted the marketplace at its 2024 investor day as a way to expand selection without buying inventory or building fulfillment centers. It partnered with marketplace software firm Mirakl in 2025. Those same 1,700-plus stores already accept marketplace returns. The invite-only assortment has more than doubled in a year, adding thousands of items each week.
Across the sector: Other big-box chains are running a similar ‘endless aisle’ strategy, selling an expanded third-party catalog in-store and letting the seller ship it.
Best Buy: Blue Shirt staff build customer carts across the expanded assortment, a program launched in 2025
Ulta: Added UB Marketplace with in-store returns but hasn't put it in associates’ hands
Walmart and Target: Run big marketplaces, but neither has wired it into a store-associate workflow. Walmart has only tested QR-code ordering in one store
The bigger picture: Lowe’s is routing new assortment to outside sellers instead of its own roughly 130-facility network, where about 60% of online orders already ship from stores.
