US DIY retailer, Lowe's, partners with Porch.com for professional trade directory

Retail Dive has reported that US home improvement retailer Lowe’s has partnered with startup home improvement site Porch.com on a nationwide directory of 1.5 professionals and 100 million projects. Porch.com CEO Matt Ehrlichman describes the website as a combination of Angie’s List, review sites, and Pinterest.

Businesses can create a profile on Porch.com and consumers can look at their past projects, prices, licensing, and location. The information can be found through the site or at Lowe’s stores.

Consumers can endorse a business on Porch.com but can’t post a negative review.

Dive Insight:

While the national reach of both Lowe’s and Porch.com make the scale of this project quite impressive, in the end, consumers will usually only be interested in local contractors (a significant revenue source for hardware retailers) anyway. It's the lack of any possibility for negative reviews that could ultimately hurt its usefulness. From Amazon to Yelp, consumers have become used to being able to scan a range of reviews — good and bad.

Source : Daphne Howland - Retail Dive
www.retaildive.com/news/lowes-home-improvement-website-partner-on-pro-directory/259441/