Someone says sales specialists will be gone by end of 2019 because of the false that all customers research everything before they come into the store. It is the opposite here because many of the customers do not research anything online. Also, in areas with high concentration of elderly people, these folks do not research much less even have a PC in many cases. Having that thought process that sales specialists or knowledgeable sales staff is not needed is not taking into consideration shoppers of all age groups. They are not considering older people and just focusing on the younger people who may possibly be researching. In my experience most young and old do not want to research in advance and would rather come in with their kids in tow to chat. Lowe's thinks their biggest competitor is Amazon so why try to be like Walmart or Amazon? Why don't you think out of the box and strive to make Lowe's unique and a place people want to shop instead of copying everyone else. Trying to trim to compete with Amazon or only use part timers like Walmart will ensure you drive customers away to Home Depot.
Very good point by @XvMa3Ex-4pvc.