How Kohl’s Uses Stores In Pursuit Of ‘Operational Excellence’
While retailers across the nation have been forced to close brick-and-mortar stores and refocus efforts on e-commerce distribution, Kohl’s is bucking that trend. “We have a strong belief that physical stores matter,” Sona Chawla, chief operating officer for Kohl’s, told attendees at RILA’s supply chain conference last week. Customers “want to shop in both the digital and physical worlds,” she said. And very few Kohl’s customers shop exclusively online, Chawla added. The retailer is honing in on two company priorities: driving traffic and operational excellence. Those two priorities are delivering tangible results. Kohl’s said its sales grew 6.3% during the last holiday season — that’s nearly five times the sales growth reported by Macy’s during the same time period. Driving traffic shouldn’t be difficult for the store, given its wide footprint in the U.S. Chawla said 80% of Americans live within 15 miles of one of the retailer’s stores, making Kohl’s a convenient choice for shoppers. Operational excellence, however, is something companies struggle within an industry that’s continuously shifting. Read more at Retail Dive.
