We visited Kohl's and saw why sales are dipping as the company looks like it might suffer the same fate as other department stores
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Nov 23, 2019, 19:42 IST
We visited a Kohl's in a Jersey City, New Jersey mall.
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A sign at the front of the store let us know about an option to buy items online and then pick them up in the store.
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We also saw a sign that let us know about the Kohl's app, which gives customers the chance to save even more.
Kohl's stores are not entirely mall-based, a factor which had previously helped the company avoid the fate of stores like JCPenney and Sears.
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But walking through the store made it clear why Kohl's was likely slated for the same fate as its department store peers.
There were a lot of clothing options, but every item seemed completely out of touch with current fashion trends.
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There were sales and deals posted on screens and placards throughout the store. The Vera Wang sleepwear section was having a buy one, get one 50% off sale.
But we found a lot of the options to be pretty unappealing. This two-piece Vera Wang pajama set cost $56.
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The clearance section was somewhat of a wreck.
The kid's clothing racks were overflowing with clothes.
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We also found a table with a pile of shoe boxes that looked ready to topple over.
We did find a cool little Fortnite sweatshirt for kids originally priced for $40 but on sale.
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There were also a bunch of unattended carts that were located in the middle of the aisles.
In the sports-attire department, there was a large section for Under Armour, an athletic wear company that has had a bit of a hard time winning over the North American market.
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We also found some shoes and clothes from brands like Nike and Adidas later on.
Moving on, we made our way to a section full of kitchen appliances, which made up a large portion of the store.
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The home-goods section was appealing overall — one of the strongest sections of the store so far. The shelves were orderly and well stocked with darling items meant to beautify a house.
Near the back of the store, we found some red lockers reserved for shoppers who had utilized the buy online, pick up in-store — or BOPIS — option.
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Being in a mall makes declining foot traffic a difficult issue for stores like Kohl's to navigate. To combat this, Kohl's has a partnership with Amazon to let people drop off Amazon returns in the store.
The small stations increased store traffic by as much as 24%, according to data from InMarket.
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But even with the BOPIS lockers and Amazon kiosks, Kohl's has clearly not cracked the code for surviving the retail apocalypse.
The out-of-style offerings and slowing sales at Kohl's further prove that department stores as we know them are dying.