What’s New at Kohl’s? Something to Discover
Kohl’s, seeking to be more inclusive and relevant to consumers while hoping to reverse recent weak sales trends, is launching a merchandising format called “Discover @ Kohl’s.”
Kohl’s officials said Monday that Discover @ Kohl’s involves curating dozens of emerging, established and diverse-owned brands that are new to the retailer, and is a departure from the types of brands shoppers ordinarily identify with it.
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Discover @ Kohl’s will be scattered in different seasonal areas throughout the stores, and this week is being introduced in 600 locations and on kohls.com for back to school. Discover @ Kohl’s will be changing quarterly, but from July through October, the concept will be in merchandise areas identified as Back to School; Get Outside for outdoor wear; Fall Family Fun for merchandise for family activities like camping, swimming or games, and For Women b y Women an assortment of women-owned brands.
“The experience is not only designed to inspire, intrigue and bring a new sense of exploration to Kohl’s, but it also contributes to our overarching efforts to modernize, transform and elevate our store and online experience for our customers,” said Ron Murray, Kohl’s interim chief merchandising officer. “Discover @ Kohl’s has also given us the opportunity to partner with truly unique and emerging brands that are hard to find anywhere else, and brands customers will feel good about purchasing from. In fact, Discover @ Kohl’s has paved the way for us to introduce over 30 new diverse and women-owned brands just this year.”
Women-owned brands include Dare to Roam for travel bags and accessories and Packed Party for accessories. Black-owned brands being introduced include Human Nation, which offers gender-neutral apparel; PSK Collective for activewear made by female athletes, and Mixed Chicks hair care founded by Wendi Levy Kaaya and Kim Etheredge.
Among the brands for back-to-school are Ivory Ella, which through the sale of sweatshirts, T-shirts and other apparel, donates 10 percent of all its net profits to organizations like Save the Elephants. There’s also Yoobi, for colorful and unique school supplies, which donates a school supply item to a child in need in the U.S. for every item sold, and Teleties, which sells hair ties that double as stackable bracelets. Teleties donates a portion of its proceeds to Force, a nonprofit organization supporting those affected by hereditary cancers.
Aside from being in different areas of the store, Discover @ Kohl’s will maintain a presence by Kohl’s Amazon Returns, with a rotating assortment of gifts that give back, such as Our Gorongosa Coffee, a coffee program that donates 100 percent of its profits from every purchase to the Gorongosa Project in Mozambique, Africa. The project works with the Gorongosa community to create sustainable initiatives that benefit their communities, environment and economy.
Christie Raymond, Kohl’s interim chief marketing officer, said, “We’re also especially excited to offer our customers an enhanced shopping experience full of new brand discovery that will leave our customers feeling inspired and like they found something truly unique at Kohl’s.”
The retailer has searches out for a chief merchandising officer and a chief marketing officer to replace the interim slots.
Kohl’s also said Monday that it is boosting its offering of gender neutral and adaptive clothing and footwear to be more inclusive. As an example, the company is launching a partnership with Billy Footwear in time for the school year. Billy Footwear offers fashionable shoes designed with zippers that go along the side of the shoes and around the toe, and with uppers that can open and fold over completely. The foot can be placed in the shoe footbed unobstructed and the zipper-pull closes and secures the foot. For back to school, Kohl’s is offering new styles of gender-neutral kids apparel through its private label brands Jumping Beans, Sonoma Goods for Life and Tek Gear, and continues to introduce new gender-neutral styles through Little Co. by Lauren Conrad.
On July 1, Kohl’s ended a strategic review process examining alternatives for raising shareholder value, including exclusive talks to be sold with The Franchise Group. Instead of being sold, Kohl’s is now considering the possibility of monetizing store real estate and accelerated stock buybacks, among other alternatives.
But now with the strategic review ended, and less noise from activist shareholders concerned about Kohl’s financial underperformance compared to peers, management can focus more on the day-to-day operations and improving the merchandise presentation.
While now doing more philanthropically to give back to communities and through the Discover strategy becoming more inclusive and diverse with the merchandise mix, the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based retailer is also looking for ongoing strategies — among them reflowing the mix in its stores, bolstering active and casual offerings, rolling out Sephora shops and adding new services and conveniences — to kick in and generate healthier sales. The retailer leans heavily on such big name brands as Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, Champion, Wrangler, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi’s, as well as such private labels as FLX and Sonoma.
In addition, Kohl’s has a plan to roll out small format stores, is testing self-serve return drop-offs and self-checkout, continuing to roll out self-serve stations for picking up online orders and already offers the ability to drive up and pick up packages and make Amazon returns.
Kohl’s first-quarter net sales and comparable sales decreased 5.2 percent to $3.47 billion, from $3.66 billion in the year-ago quarter, but the company expects to see improvement in the second half of this year. Last year, the company generated $19.4 billion in sales.
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