Kohl is a mess in more ways than one

Of course unstable

With more than 1,100 US stores and approximately $19 billion in annual sales, Kohl’s is the largest department store chain in the United States. But the company has struggled to find a way forward on its own.

And last week, the retailer announced that it’s rolling out a self-delivery option at all of its online stores within two hours.

All of these efforts, while necessary for Kohl’s, said Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData Retail, cannot fully mask the chain’s underlying problem.

“In our view, the main source of Kohl’s problems is internal. Most notably, the company has lost ground in terms of marketing and range planning and appears to be taking a haphazard approach to purchasing. The result is a jumble of disassembled product in stores, exacerbated by a very serious deterioration in store management standards” Saunders said in a note Thursday.

“It was just that, while Coles was a bit uninspiring, he was both disciplined and elegant in his presentation. Over the past year, it all went out the window,” Saunders said. “In this kind of economic environment, consumers will quickly abandon high-effort purchases and stores for very little reward.”

Kathryn Miklucic, who lives in the Toronto area, said she’s been shopping at the supermarket chain for decades and is such a devoted Kohl fan that when she travels to the United States, she brings her Kohl card and Kohl discount coupons with her.

“I usually spend several hundred dollars in the store per trip,” she said. “As a cross-border shopper, I enjoy buying different clothes than in stores here in the States. [Kohl’s] Sales are amazing and until recently there was a great variety of options for clothing, purses, homeware and seasonal décor.”

But her last trip, on August 13, to Kohl’s in Watertown, New York, was a disappointment. Miklucic said she left the store “in a panic attack close to chaos and disorder.”

“On this visit, I spent $12.10 on a reusable shopping bag with the Kohl’s logo on it, and two stuffed animals the proceeds of which go to the Kohl’s Cares Foundation,” she said. “I even told the cashier that I was so tired that I had to leave, and maybe I’ll try again the next day. I didn’t.”