Kohl’s undergoing major change that could mean ‘more appealing’ stores and better deals, expert says
ONE of the nation's largest department store chains is set to undergo a major change as officials hope to lure in more shoppers.
Kohl's which operates over 1,150 stores across the country has suffered a sales slump but hopes its new efforts will see profits soar once again.
The retailer has lost sales every quarter for 11 quarters in a row and has lost almost 50 per cent of its stock value.
The chain has taken on a new CEO this month in a bid to turn the company around and one expert believes this breath of fresh air could benefit the business and its customers.
But Kohl's CEO Ashley Buchanan will have a lot of problems to tackle including failing customer trust and the major drop in stock value.
As well as individual issues, the department chain is also suffering from wider issues impacting the whole industry such as inflation, residual effects from the pandemic, and online competitors.
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Before Buchanan came on board, the previous CEO Tom Kingsbury made a number of changes that were part of a previous plan to change the tide against the business.
This included reducing private-label brands, fine jewellery departments, and petite clothing.
Instead, he installed Babies 'R' US shops and Sephora cosmetics to try and bring in a younger audience but this made loyal customers feel forgotten.
"Kingsbury disconnected from their core customer and failed to connect with the younger generation that he was presumably going after," Jean-Pierre Dubé, research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research told Fox.
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"They felt a little betrayed," he said of "hardcore" Kohl's shoppers.
But now with Buchanan at the helm, retails expert say that shoppers could find more appealing stores and better deals.
Deb Gabor, a branding expert said: "The time is right to kind of re-discover what their unique position is."
Michelle Greenwald, professor at the New York University Stern School of Business said that the new CEO has to focus on making stores more appealing and offers attractive to shoppers.
"Once customers leave, they find other alternatives that they're happy with," she explained.
"It's not like they're necessarily going to come back.
US braces for '45,000 store closures'
Some 45,000 bricks-and-mortar stores could close in the next five years, experts have warned.
Several major retailers have announced store closures or gone out of business altogether in recent years.
In 2023, chains such as Foot Locker announced plans to close up to 400 outlets by 2026.
While, other well-known retailers like Tuesday Morning and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Bed Bath & Beyond has closed all of its brick-and-mortar stores and is now an online-only retailer.
The most affected retailers have been clothing, consumer electronics, sporting goods, hobby, book, music, and home furnishing stores since the start of 2019.
UBS has predicted the total number of retail stores will drop by 45k from 958k to 913k.
Despite that, the report says that certain stores should thrive while others decline.
It said retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and Target, could be among the winners.
"A lot of it, they're going to just lose forever."
Buchanan's strategy will become clear over the next few months.
Kohl's has confirmed that it is shutting 27 underperforming stores.
But, it is not only Kohl's that is suffering, with other department stores shutting up shop in a bid to stay open.
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JCPenney has shuttered yet another location adding to the 150 store closures it has enacted over the past five years.
Macy's confirmed that 150 locations would shutter by the end of 2026 with 66 already confirmed for this year.