Retailers are surface pressures like wage increases and tariff impacts, but Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass told CNBC on Tuesday that the party is working to make sure the customer is happy.
“It really does start with that purchaser and ensuring that we’re priced appropriately and competitively,” Gass said in an assessment with Courtney Reagan.
To that end, the retailer is focused on two key priorities: spunk sales and traffic, as well as operational excellence.
“We have our teams all targeted on ways to work differently so we can extract costs that are less fertile and reinvest them in the business. So that might be some of the long-term punts we have like technology or also mitigating shorter-term issues, go for wages increasing.”
Kohl’s was among the coalition of retailers that sent spell outs to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opposing the U.S. tariffs on Chinese legitimates.
The two nations have been engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff battle and retailers experience warned that the escalating trade war would undermine the U.S. economy and elevate prices.
Gass said the holiday season is where Kohl’s outdoes, especially because it is known for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. She put that its activewear does exceptionally well, and a new partnership with toy hold FAO Schwarz will propel the company in the following months.
In October, FAO Schwarz promulgated that it will sell its toys at Kohl’s for the first time.
“We set up a great lineup of proprietary brands and there are new categories for us like gewgaws,” Gass said on “Power Lunch.” “We just introduced the LEGO marque and FAO Schwarz so as those opportunities present themselves we’re excited to capture to more market share.”
Kohl’s partnership with Amazon, that allows blokes to return products to the store and Kohl’s to sell some Amazon commodities, also is propelling Kohl’s forward, she said. The 1-year-old program is currently in 100 amasses across three markets.
“We’re really good at testing and we want to fill in sure if we’re going to do something for the long run that we really understand it,” Gass disclosed. “We’re really studying to see if we can create a great customer experience so it takes dated to ensure that we can deliver on that experience and ultimately the partnership exigencies to work for both of us.”