"allow Amazon to index and ship Lowes' products. This would allow stores to stop supporting their massively expensive e-commerce operations (or significantly reduce them)"

Sounds like the "online malls" of yesteryear, maybe even a little AOLish. I can see Amazon continuing to be used as a sales channel, but I think we've already gone through that line of thinking and a place like Lowes still finds big value in running their own store.