Dive Brief:

• Lowe’s Innovation Labs is unveiling what it calls the Lowe’s Holoroom to help customers envision home improvement ideas by testing out how products would fit and function in a room.

• The technology, developed with 3-D modeling company SciFutures, will be introduced in Toronto stores this year and will at first present bathroom design options. Expansions into more stores and wider applications will be developed over the next one to two years.

• Shoppers can fill the virtual room, input with their home’s dimensions and layout, with products like sinks and tubs and move them around until they like what they see. Once satisfied with their choices and layout, they can take home a printout or upload a 3-D model with an iOS or Android app.

Dive Insight:

Sci-fi nerds can rejoice — at least when it comes to designing a bathroom. Lowe’s has developed an impressive in-store experience for its customers with its new Holoroom. The question for the home improvement retailer is still how useful the technology really is for its customers once the capabilities are widely used in stores.