Kohl’s to Pivot from Department Stores

Kohl’s (Menomonee Falls, WI) announced a bold change of direction on Monday, saying it wants to pivot from a department store into “a focused lifestyle concept,” Retail Dive reports.

In a presentation to investors, the retailer said it will open 100 small-format stores and expand its Sephora shop-in-shop footprint from 200 to 850 by 2023.

Other initiatives of Kohl’s new strategy include:

• Growing Sephora to a $2 billion business
• Remodeling existing stores when a new Sephora shop-in-shop is introduced
• Acquiring new customers with Amazon
• Using data science to accelerate personalization and localization
• Expanding active and athleisure offerings
• Reigniting its women’s business
• Revamping its loyalty program

The announced plans come as Kohl’s faces pressure from activist investors at Macellum Capital Management to take stronger actions, the article explains. Jonathan Duskin, the CEO of Macellum, told Yahoo Finance that Kohl’s new strategy is “a risky plan that relies on something that hasn’t happened at Kohl’s for a decade. And if they miss their sales line, there’s no margin for error. The results will be a lot worse than we’re anticipating.”

Read more at Retail Dive.