Lowe's May Be Hunting for 2,000 Software Engineers in the Dallas Area

Home improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. is scoping out the Dallas area to locate a new technology hub, according to a report in the Charlotte Observer.Lowe's chief information officer Seemantini Godbole told the newspaper that Charlotte and Dallas are both under consideration.Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison left Plano-based J.C. Penney a year ago to run the No. 2 home improvement retailer in an industry where he gained extensive experience when he was at rival Home Depot.After issues with Lowe's website last holiday season, particularly when it crashed over Black Friday weekend, Ellison told analysts during an investor conference that the company plans to hire 2,000 software engineers and other IT professionals over the next five years.Walmart and Sam's Club have both opened technology hubs in Dallas and Plano in the past year. Ellison said he wants to modernize Lowe's digital capabilities as part of his overhaul of the company.Since joining Lowe's last summer, Ellison hired his own team at the top of the company and said he would close the Orchard Supply Hardware chain, which Lowe's bought in 2013 after it was spun off from Sears. He was also critical of the lack of localization of merchandise in Lowe's store to match the region. Ellison knows the Dallas market and the local job market. Plus, Texas is Lowe's largest state with 143 stores here. It operates 1,740 stores in the U.S. and its next largest state is Florida with 125 locations.However, Penney's online operations suffered under Ellison and he ended up firing his handpicked head of Penney's digital business. The company added hundreds of thousands of items on the website that were shipped directly from the manufacturers including such items as faucets and bath tubs. Penney CEO Jill Soltau said Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of items have been removed from Penney's website. She also reversed another Ellison decision in February to put major kitchen and laundry appliances in 600 Penney stores. Twitter: @MariaHalkias  Continue reading...