Retailer Lowe's is exiting the product side of the smart home business in the latest in a series of moves geared towards strategic reassessment. According to the retailer, selling its Iris smart home platform will allow it to focus on its core home improvement business and improve profitability.
The smart home platform Iris connects with more than 75 smart devices and provides customers with Internet of Things capabilities to manage, monitor, and maintain their homes. Lowe's says it will still continue to sell smart home products despite the desire to sell its Iris platform, and will focus more on the retail side of the business.
Lowe's said the decision to sell came about after a focus in the third quarter to position the retailer for long-term success, identify underperforming or non-core businesses and stores for divestiture. CEO and president Marvin Ellison said the strategic reassessment process of Lowe's is "substantially completed."
As a previous step in Lowe's strategic reassessment, the retailer closed 51 North American stores, including 20 stores in the U.S. Lowe's also announced the planned closing of all 99 of its Orchard Supply Hardware stores in August.
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