Kohl’s expands dress selection with dedicated shops at 700 stores

Dive Brief:

• Building up its product assortment, Kohl’s has introduced a dedicated dress shop on its website and across 700 locations, the retailer announced Thursday. Kohl’s has expanded its dress selection to include more brands, styles, fits and fabrics, as well as more social, career and occasion dresses. 
• Kohl’s has positioned the new dress shops at the front of the store and arranged the dresses to highlight new brands and products, and “color and print stories,” the company said. New brands and products will continue to be added, per the release.
• New brands entering Kohl’s as part of the effort include London Times, Harper Rose, Taylor, Nanette Lepore, Nicole Miller and others. In addition, Kohl’s has deepened its dress assortment from existing brands like Nine West, LC Lauren Conrad, Draper James and Simply Vera Vera Wang.

Dive Insight:

Kohl’s is introducing a dedicated dress shop as the retailer continues to revamp its product offerings. The category “significantly enhances” the department store’s women’s offering, and shoppers are already responding well to styles including pleats, chiffons and florals, according to the company.

“As Kohl’s continues to amplify its polished casual and dress wear assortments for customers, the company identified dresses as an area for growth, particularly with white space in occasion, career, and social dresses,” the company said in its release. “Kohl’s will continue to bring in new brands and trend-forward pieces so shoppers can discover new products for every season and occasion.”

As it tries to turn its business around, Kohl’s has been focusing more on enhancing its in-store product selection this year. In May, the company announced the rollout of Babies R Us shop-in-shops in 200 of its stores beginning in August, where shoppers can browse “a curated assortment” of baby furniture, accessories and other products. And earlier this month, Limited Too relaunched its brand at Kohl’s stores and online following a 15-year break. That’s in addition to earlier store improvements, like the addition of Sephora shop-in-shops.

During its Q3 2023 earnings call, Kohl’s CEO Tom Kingsbury emphasized the importance of the retailer’s stores, saying the company’s digital arm is “what’s bringing us down.” The department store has struggled to drive sales in recent months, with its fiscal year 2023 net sales dropping 3.4% from the previous year to $16.6 billion. Its sales declines continued into the first quarter of 2024, during which the company’s net sales fell 5.3% to $3.2 billion.