Shownotes
In this OmniTalk Retail episode, recorded live from NRF 2026 at the Vusion podcast studio, Ankur Mittal, Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director of Lowe’s India, joins Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton to explain why Lowe’s is commercializing its internal retail technology and what that means for the future of point of sale and omnichannel retail.
Ankur shares how Lowe’s India supports more than 5,000 associates across core corporate and technology functions, and why the company decided to launch a SaaS offshoot to bring its internally built POS platform to market. From hardware-agnostic design and AI-driven capabilities to modular, plug-and-play architecture, this conversation breaks down how modern POS systems are evolving into the backbone of omnichannel retail.
The discussion also explores why mid-sized retailers are responding strongly to flexible, software-first POS solutions, how long POS change cycles have held retailers back, and why true omnichannel requires shared item, pricing, promotion, and inventory data across every channel.
Key Topics covered:
- Why Lowe’s decided to commercialize its internally built retail software
- Point of sale as the heart of omnichannel retail
- Hardware-agnostic POS and why it matters for retailers
- AI-driven capabilities including shrink identification
- Modular commerce architecture and plug-and-play systems
- How mid-sized retailers can modernize POS without big-bang upgrades
- POS stability, speed, and operational reliability
- What true omnichannel really means beyond BOPIS
- Lowe’s roadmap for POS, commerce engines, and enterprise platforms in 2026
Stay tuned to Omni Talk Retail for continued coverage from NRF 2026, and stop by the Vusion booth #4921 to say hello.
#NRF2026 #OmniTalkRetail #RetailTechnology #RetailInnovation #PointOfSale #OmnichannelRetail
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Transcripts
Hello, everyone.
Speaker B:This is omnitalk Retail.
Speaker B:I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker C:And I'm Anne Mazinga.
Speaker B: e from New York City at NRF's: Speaker B:Come on in.
Speaker B:Say hello.
Speaker B:We'd love to see you.
Speaker B:And now, standing between us is ankur Mittal, the SVP and CTO of Lowe's India.
Speaker B:Ankur, welcome to OmniTalkin.
Speaker B:Thank you for being with us today.
Speaker B:I know you're a busy guy.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for having me over here.
Speaker C:Well, Ankur, give us a background.
Speaker C:Some of our listeners may not realize that there's a Lowe's India.
Speaker C:So tell us a little bit about what Lowe's India is and then all you oversee in your role as cto.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So Lowe's India is a Bangalore office of Loews Corporate, which has around 5,000 associates.
Speaker A:And every corporate function is being played in Los India.
Speaker A:As part of my CTO role, I oversee infrastructure and operations, Omnichannel platforms, the platform which we develop for our engineers, corporate it, which is HR Finance, IT for legal.
Speaker A:And the biggest one now is the new company which we have formed, Los Meridius.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker B:Yeah, I want to ask you about that.
Speaker B:So I'm glad you brought that up, because I saw that that's some big, big things that you guys are doing there.
Speaker B:So why do a software as a service offshoot?
Speaker B:What's the thought process there, and why are you going in that direction?
Speaker A:See, here is the thing.
Speaker A:We have invested billions of dollars to build the software for Lowe's.
Speaker A:And we felt that the software, what we have built for Lowe's, is very competitive and excellent in nature.
Speaker A:There is a reason for us to make that commercialize and make sure that other retailers and other companies, enterprises, can use those software.
Speaker A:And that's the primary reason we thought that we should be launching a separate company to commercialize the software that you have built.
Speaker B:And where are you starting with that?
Speaker A:So we are starting with point of sale.
Speaker B:Point of sale.
Speaker C:And why point of sale, Ankur?
Speaker A:See, here is the thing.
Speaker A:For a retailer, point of sale is a heart of retail.
Speaker A:And we believe that the system, what we have built, has right to win in the market.
Speaker A:It is very important for our customer, for our associates.
Speaker A:And it brings everything with customer, associates, all the systems like pricing, promotion, inventory together.
Speaker A:And we believe that that could be a significant differentiator for any retailer.
Speaker A:And that's the reason we started Point of Sale.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:And what do you think makes what you've created a differentiator for those retailers?
Speaker C:Like what components are there?
Speaker A:So see if you look at it, this is a system which is hardware agnostic.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:You can utilize any sort of hardware.
Speaker A:If you look traditional vendors, they'll have hardware and software put together.
Speaker A:So that makes it much, much easier for any type of retailer to use the system.
Speaker A:Second is AI driven, which means things like identification shrink plays a bigger role in that.
Speaker A:It also has a very, very loose coupling between those different kind of components which comes into the part of the commerce engine.
Speaker A:So you can plug and play it's kind of Lego blocks and bring in your pricing system, remove the legacy pricing system.
Speaker A:Just makes it so easy for any retailer to operate in this environment.
Speaker B:Yeah, the other thing that comes to mind for me from when you say point of sales, you don't mind a tough challenge like point of sales, point of sales.
Speaker B:It's a beast.
Speaker B:It can be a beast.
Speaker B:And it's, you know, at the end of the day it's really the linchpin of Omni channel retailing.
Speaker B:So, so I'm curious, how is the marketing market, excuse me, reacting to meridius, like the idea of it.
Speaker A:So we have met with many, many customers, many potential customers and coming into the NRF over here, we have heard great feedback from the customers in terms of how fast, how stable and how easy to operate the system is.
Speaker A:Now only time will tell when we start implementing to the different retailers that how it goes.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's a really interesting play from you all because you know, like when you stop and think about it, there isn't that much competition in terms of what Lowe's does relative to other retailers that are in the retail universe.
Speaker B:So I'm curious, how are the like medium sized players reacting to what you're doing?
Speaker A:Particularly I think medium sized retailers are reacting to in a very positive manner because with the mid sized retailer the complexity was always about buying big hardware, big software.
Speaker A:Now they have an option to not go big bang.
Speaker A:They can just buy the software, use their existing hardware, make small changes and go from there, which was not possible earlier.
Speaker A:So that's the big, big differentiator, what we have today to offer to the mid size retailers.
Speaker B:Right, that makes sense.
Speaker B:And what, what other challenges are they facing?
Speaker B:Like as they look at, you know, trying to upgrade their point of sale?
Speaker B:Is there anything else that people are bringing up to you that's top of mind for them?
Speaker A:See, I think the biggest thing, another thing which they are Bringing in that any changes which they are making in their existing point of sale used to take few months.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:They have to stand in the queue.
Speaker B:It's very critical too.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You have to get it right.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:You have to get it right.
Speaker A:You have to have it stable.
Speaker A:You can't have customer walking into the store and then you see this point of sale either not working or doing something which doesn't create a good customer experience.
Speaker C: And Ankur, as you think about: Speaker C:Do you continue to listen to what your partners are telling you about challenges that they're facing that they want to work on?
Speaker C:How do you think about the roadmap ahead?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So the way we are thinking is it's going to be three pronged approach.
Speaker A:We are going to definitely have point of sale will be a core focus and we'll continue to enhance and modify as we go ahead.
Speaker A:But apart from that we are also thinking of what can be complementary capabilities on top of point of sale.
Speaker A:So can we have commerce engine, can we have order management, those kind of things.
Speaker A:So there is going to be a segment which is going to be retail capabilities.
Speaker A:Pricing, promotion, inventory, order management, those kind of things.
Speaker A:At the same time we are also thinking of creating enterprise capabilities with can be used beyond retail.
Speaker A:So for example mobile device management, for example telemetry, for example virtualization.
Speaker A:So those going to be the second segment which is going to be open for all the enterprises, not just retail.
Speaker B:Ankar, let me ask you this before we let you go.
Speaker B:What are some of the things that you as a retailer can do from an omnichannel perspective with a really strong pos.
Speaker A:See if you look at it a lot of retailers talk about if they have buy online and pick up in store store that makes them omnichannel in my opinion.
Speaker A:No, right now in my opinion your all the fundamental detail APIs which is item price promo inventory has to become omnichannel has to be having the same information when you go from dot com to stores.
Speaker A:Now if you buy item in the store it should be able to show you in your.com history saying that this is the purchase you.com this is the purchase.
Speaker A:So making sure that every particular platform is omnichannel and then you can put the color of different channels on top.
Speaker B:Of it and I don't want you put that on the spot here and maybe you don't even know this question but I'm just curious like what percentage of the medium sized retailers actually have that capability from the ones you're talking to.
Speaker B:It's pretty small, Right.
Speaker A:I feel is gonna be in single digits.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Single digits.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Good stuff, man.
Speaker B:I'm excited to see how it plays out for you all.
Speaker A:I'm excited, too.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's very, very, very exciting to see how it.
Speaker B:How it unfolds for you.
Speaker B:So thank you very much for being here with us today and taking the time with us.
Speaker B:And you have a booth here as well, right?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Where is that?
Speaker A: It's: Speaker B:5221.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah, just right.
Speaker C:Just down the road.
Speaker C:Excellent.
Speaker B:Down the road.
Speaker B: n stop in and see us at booth: Speaker B:And thanks to Vuzion for sponsoring our coverage today.
Speaker B:And as always, and be careful out there.