Kohl's is going after a forgotten customer to defy the curse plaguing Macy's and Sears
"Our focus is really on the family, so this is focusing on the family member we kind of forgot about - the millennial, who is still part of that family." Sofia Wacksman, Kohl's vice president of trend, told Business Insider.
November 14 Kohl's is launching a new initiative, targeted at the stylish urban millennial, called k/lab. It's a new collection that aims to be more fast-fashion than the brand's typical offerings.
The collection will not be tied down to traditional fashion seasons, and, because Kohl's has worked closely with partners and distributors, has been able to cut down the time from concept to delivery to a matter of weeks.
Much of the retail industry decides fashions up to a year ahead of time, but Kohl's is looking at k/lab as more reactive, with an emphasis on speed.
The company hopes to spread what is learned during this experiment to the rest of the store and other collections.
The brand's investment comes at a time when department store stalwarts Macy's and Sears are grappling with falling traffic, aging brick-and-mortar stores, and customers who are addicted to steep discounts.
Kohl's is aware that the millennial woman is not their core customer. The goal with k/lab, according to the company, is to get new customers in the store who may not have considered shopping at Kohl's before, but are interested in the new collection.
To develop the collection, Kohl's trend team, along with a data scientist charged with finding what's new and now in women's fashion, in their New York City office. The data scientist will scour social media and sales numbers to help inform what pieces to bring to market next.
The pieces in k/lab will be much more fashion-forward than other more conservative Kohl's collections, Wacksman said. They're also allowed the team to be a bit more "crazy," and Wacksman says the team is not afraid to make mistakes.
A jumpsuit made from velvet called the "Feel Me Jumpsuit," a brightly patterned bomber jacket called the "Boy Bomber," and other designs that would appeal to a younger demographic are all expected.
Prices are expected to range from $28 - $78, with shirts and skirts selling for under $58, dresses and pants ranging from $58 - $68, and jackets $78. Wholesale orders for the items will start in low quantities, with the flexibility to ramp up or down as an item becomes more or less popular, so the collection's stock will change more frequently than Kohl's other lines. If an item becomes a huge hit, there's potential to move it to another Kohl's collection.
For the in-store experience, k/lab will be housed in a completely separate display - different from other collections and built in a way to stand out. The collection will launch in 21 stores across the nation in cities identified by Kohl's as having larger populations of the customer it's trying to reach with this initiative. Online, the collection has its own landing page separate from the rest of the Kohl's website.
K/lab plays into Kohl's greater multi-year strategy for turning around sales called the Greatness Agenda, which is a multi-pillared approach began in 2014. The hope is to take the initiatives piloted and lessons learned at k/lab and apply them to rest of the store.
"Whether [k/lab] works or not, for me, is less relevant. It's teaching us new skills and new tools on how we can approach the business," Michelle Gass, chief merchandising and customer officer for Kohl's, told Business Insider. "It's helping us think differently, so it's already is a success in my mind."