Dive Brief:
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Kohl’s Corp. Monday said it’s expanding its same-day delivery services in another six U.S. cities, including Boston, Brooklyn/Queens, Los Angeles, Miami, Northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
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The struggling retailer has been testing same-day delivery with Deliv in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago.
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The expansion comes ahead of the holidays, when shoppers may take advantage of in-store pickup and various delivery options to avoid the rush.
Dive Insight:
Kohl’s has been struggling to keep up in a rapidly changing retail environment and has been gamely launching several omnichannel initiatives and experiments.
E-commerce sales still account for less than 15% of revenue for department stores, according to L2 senior research analyst Giulia Prati. Prati notes to Reuters that the holiday rush could lead more customers to take advantage of services like same-day delivery or in-store pickup, and that there’s an increasing shift in expectations in general.
"The consumer's expectation is clearly shifting increasingly to the ‘I want it now’ model, and department stores that are able to oblige will see significant increases in sales," Prati told Reuters.
That remains to be seen for Kohl’s, which is making a lot of the right moves without moving the needle much. The retailer has kept costs and debt relatively in check, while also experimenting with ways to boost its e-commerce and omnichannel efforts, including in-store pickup and an off-price store.
