Will Home And Gifting Inspire Kohl’s Customers to Spend More?

Kohl’s is investing in home and gifting items and featuring both “underpenetrated” categories prominently in the front of the store to “inspire” customers as they enter.

“Some of this work is already underway,” said Tom Kingsbury, Kohl’s CEO since February, last week on the retailer’s first-quarter analyst call. “Our repositioning of gifting to the front of the store during the holiday season proved highly successful, and this positive trend continued across Valentine’s Day, Easter, and more recently, Mother’s Day. When you visit our stores now, you will see Americana-themed gifting products focused around the Memorial Day and the Fourth of July holidays.”

In-home, decor, outdoor and pet offerings are being expanded. This includes increased wall art selections, seasonal, patio furniture, camping and outdoor gear and tabletop. More space is being allocated to the pet category following a test last fall.

Jill Timm, CFO, said that positioning home decor in the front of the store incentivizes “more of an impulse” purchase similar to gifting.

Beyond gifting and home, beauty continues to be seen as a traffic driver with Sephora at Kohl’s continuing to outperform expectations, driving beauty sales ahead 150 percent in the first quarter year over year.

The core apparel business is being better balanced with increased offerings of “polished casual and dress clothing” in women’s and more suiting and dress shirts in men’s. Some activewear and other casual offerings are being deemphasized.

Kohl’s, as part of Mr. Kingsbury’s changes, is also “accelerating and simplifying our value strategies,” gradually replacing general promotion and online-only offers with targeted offers and clearance events for slow sellers on a more regular basis. Key-value items will be tested in private label apparel and home.

A third focus is maintaining lean inventories to “create greater liquidity to chase receipts and drive turnover,” Mr. Kingsbury said.

Focusing on impulse items at the store’s entrance is critical to initially getting customers in the shopping mood. “They’re seeing something new, something different, something very giftable and a different look, Mr. Kingsbury said. “We want to excite the customers every time they come into a Kohl’s store overall.”