Kohl’s Corp. Reimagines Home Assortments
The value-oriented department store chain is increasing space for home products by 30 percent as a critical component in its turnaround strategy.
it's bringing greater style, depth and variety to its home assortment.
On Tuesday, Kohl's officially launches a revamped home assortment marked by pumped up previously underplayed presentations of wall art, botanicals, storage, frames, glass, ceramics, gifting and impulse items, as well as the introduction of the pet supply and lighting categories to the selling floor for the first time.
“The main thrust is about bringing in newness and fresh goods more frequently, having an overall broader assortment and appealing to a broader customer,” Nick Jones, chief merchandising and digital officer at the Menomonee Falls, Wisc.based Kohl's, told WWD.
Kohl's is in the midst of turnaround efforts trying to reverse declining sales trends. But last week chief executive officer Tom Kingsbury, during a conference discussing fourth-quarter results with investors and analysts, said the retailer is looking at $2 billion in additional sales volume over several years through a series of brand additions and assortment changes. Last year Kohl's generated $16.6 billion in sales, with home accounting for about 15 percent of that. Comparable sales decreased 4.7 percent.
Kohl's Corp. expects to climb out of its sales hole this year and possibly into positive territory through the ongoing rollout of Sephora inside Kohl's, the revamped home floor and the introduction of Babies “R” Us shops.
On Monday, Jones told WWD that the $2 billion in additional volume would come principally through the revamped and enlarged home assortments as well as via Babies “R” Us. Kohl's plans to introduce Babies “R” Us shops in 200 Kohl's locations this fall. The Babies “R” Us shops inside Kohl's will range from 750 to 2,500 square feet and will sell baby gear, activity, bath, furniture, feeding and safety products. Babies “R” Us products will also be on kohls.com and the Kohl's registry. The space will be adjacent to Kohl's existing assortment of baby apparel, which includes Graco, Chicco, Boppy, Skip Hop, Delta Children, Fisher-Price and Carter's.
Sephora, which is currently inside about 910 stores and will soon be in all 1,100 Kohl's stores, will also contribute to that foreseen $2 billion in volume growth.
In the interview, Jones pointed out that Kohl's is aiming to get more of its Sephora shoppers, many of whom are younger than the typical Kohl's customers, to also shop the revamped home areas, as well as Babies “R” Us and other areas of the stores. Kohl's is generally seeking to attract new and younger customers through all the merchandise changes it has been undergoing in recent seasons.
On the home front, “We have not been deep enough in some very important categories which have been relatively small businesses for us but it's where we are now pushing hard,” Jones said.
Botanicals, for example, will be “two or three times the size and we've doubled down on the gifting business. We have brought it to the front of our stores,” Jones said. That was made possible by the removal of one of the two central checkout sections.
The “essentials” areas — bedding, bath, towels and small kitchen appliances — have also been beefed up as part of the new home strategy. Bedding is showing “more modern aesthetics and frequent pattern and color injections to offer a constant stream of style-forward options for customers' evolving preferences,” Jones said.
“The Impulse area is something we haven't really pushed before,” Jones added, noting that the category is displayed more prominently, better organized and more accessible along the queue for checkout. Impulse items include candy, beauty, sunglasses, socks, small home decor and stationery.
With gifting, “We want to be recognized and famous for gifting 12 months a year,” Jones said, adding that the candy, decor and tabletop items suitable as Easter gifts are on the selling floor. After Easter, Mother's Day gifts will be highlighted. Sixty percent of the gift assortment are items Kohl's never carried in the past, Jones said.
“This is all about becoming a much, much more relevant player,” he said.
While more stylish and on-trend items are being added, Kohl's is maintaining its value-oriented pricing, executives said.
On average, space for the home assortment has grown by about 30 percent per store, with some categories growing by as much as 40 percent. Kohl's stores range from 30,000 to 80,000 square feet.
Asked what phase the overhaul of home is in, Jones replied: “We are probably in the first innings in terms of scale. We've been working on this for about 12 months. We're encouraged by what we saw in Q4. We are really pleased with progress and the newness.”
Jones suggested that Kohl's is doing a better job at displaying the home goods with product “stories.” For example, shoppers can now see how ceramics and tabletop can be coordinated. On kohls.com, the homepages are “solutions-oriented and easier to navigate,” Jones said. “It's a much cleaner customer experience.”
Kohl's is staging a one-day pop-up experience Thursday, noon to 8 p.m., at 500 Broadway in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, to show off how home has been overhauled. A Kohl's spokesperson described the setting as “an immersive pop-up experience with miniature homes, each curated uniquely by influencers to highlight the diversity and versatility of Kohl's home products.”
In a statement on the home program, Kohl's indicated that to reintroduce the offerings to customers, the retailer is engaging in “a multichannel marketing approach including immersive digital activations that are rooted in inspiration and experimentation, partnerships with home design experts, a live pop-up experience in New York City and more.”
“We know the way consumers shop for home goods is centered around inspiration, and we have a unique opportunity to reintroduce current customers and invite new customers to think of Kohl's when looking for inspiration for their home,” said Christie Raymond, Kohl's chief marketing officer. “We're prioritizing ways to connect, drive awareness and engage with home shoppers to enhance our credibility in the category, reinforce our compelling value and provide new ideas and solutions that spark creativity for customers, to ensure Kohl's is a top-of-mind destination for home decor.”