Chris Langford, managing director of Lowe’s Ventures, hits the on-demand nail on the proverbial head. Life in an on-demand economy involves long-term trusted service relationships. He goes so far as predicting a rise in service-supported rentals, or “Housing-as-a-Service.” I suspect home ownership will continue and fragment into a leasehold-like model involving subscription services and, among owners, a focus on improving home value through maintenance.
The missing ingredient in all these thoughts is the sales interface that is intimate enough to support in-home engagement. People won’t go to Lowe’s for services as often, favoring a blend of services coming to them. Lowe’s needs to enable service discovery in the home and community to weave its inventory into many services.
Langford explains: [T]he ability to find trusted service providers is increasing exponentially. A further benefit of being able to find service providers is that the cost of service should decrease thereby making outsourcing more attractive. With more and more people identifying as time constrained and lacking DIY skills, the likelihood of choosing to outsource home improvement tasks to a professional should rise drastically.
Source: Lowe’s: DIY Will Fade and Consumers Will Hire Pros for Smart-Home & Other Projects – CE Pro