Kohl’s is Counting on the Holiday Season to End Sales Slump

This holiday season is the first peak shopping season overseen by the company’s new CEO, Tom Kingsbury, and the anticipation for success is high. 

Under Kingsbury’s leadership, Kohl’s has been focusing on a rebrand as a way to turn around decreasing sales and stock prices. The retailer has been leaning into popular brands and categories. Kingsbury even stated that the company could return to sales growth in 2024 during an earnings call back in July. “Home decor, pet, gifting, impulse, all the things that we’ve been talking about will really help us get there,” he explained. 

Kohls’ Chief Marketing Officer, Christie Raymond, said the company is aware of certain factors that are contributing to consumers spending less such as rising credit card debt, dwindling savings and the return of student loan payments. “We know they’re stretched,” she stated. 

Kohl’s is also marking down merchandise 40-50% to encourage more consumers to spend and focusing on categories that consumers have continued to splurge on, like beauty products, CNBC reported. 

Additionally, the retailer is reportedly increasing tactics to encourage impulse buying such as creating more room in the cash register area for small items that are easy to grab like stocking stuffers.