Kohl is a mess in more ways than one

New York
CNN Business
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Kohl’s doesn’t seem to have a break, and she may only blame herself.

The supermarket chain on Thursday offered a bleak outlook for 2022, saying it expects full-year sales to fall 5% to 6% compared to last year, and blamed high inflation for preventing shoppers – specifically middle-income consumers – from spending more. . in its stores. The company also reported a decline in sales and profits for the quarter ended July 30.

Kohl’s shares fell more than 7% Thursday.

But the economy is not his only problem. Coles,

(KSS) Similar to other big chains including Target

(TGT) Walmart

(WMT)stuck with a lot of surplus stock which cannot be erased. Chain inventory in the quarter was 48% higher than it was at the same time last year.

“We have revised our plans and implemented measures to reduce inventory and reduce expenses to take into account softer demand expectations,” Cole CEO Michael Gass said in a statement.

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.

Kohl floating and then pull the idea To sell itself to the Franchise Group (FRG), the holding company that owns The Vitamin Shoppe and other retail brands.

The retailer tries a variety of approaches to stay relevant, especially to younger consumers. And it recently partnered with popular cosmetics brand Sephora to open it Sephora Convenience Stores their locations. Kohl’s said the move has helped it gain 1 million new customers since last August who are younger, more diverse, and shop more frequently than the average consumer.

And last week, the retailer announced that it is rolling out a self-pickup 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. 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 products in stores, exacerbated by a very serious deterioration in store management standards. Saunders said in a note Thursday.

“It used to be that while it was a bit uninspiring, Kohl’s was both disciplined and elegant in its presentation. Over the past year all of this has gone out the window,” Saunders said. “In this kind of economic environment, consumers will quickly abandon the purchases and stores that require So much effort for so little reward.”

Toronto-area Kathryn Miklucic 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 her 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, handbags, 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 semi-panic state of 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 exhausted that I had to leave, and maybe I’ll try again the next day. I didn’t.”