Dive Brief:

• Kohl's is kicking off its holiday deals with a Black Friday opportunity starting Nov. 19 online and Nov. 22 in stores, through Nov. 23, that includes $15 of its popular "Kohl's Cash" for every $50 spent on qualifying purchases. The Kohl's Cash coupons can be redeemed Nov. 24 through Dec. 5, according to a company press release. Customers could also claim $15 of Kohl's Cash for every $50 spent on Nov. 1, a "one-day-only Black Friday event."

• The retailer, which has spiffed up its stores and will invite Santa to more than 1,100 across the country, will once again have a co-branded FAO Schwarz concession in stores. Kohl's is bringing back its Kohl's Cash emoji and has launched Kohl's Cash gifs for social media posts. A snow globe gift finder on Pinterest will deliver gift recommendations based on customer preferences and allow users to shake their phones to curate more options, the company said.

• The retailer is promoting its in-store pickup services for online orders, with most ready within an hour, and is leveraging stores for fulfillment, saying it expects to ship more than 60 million units this season across its stores, distribution and e-commerce fulfillment centers network. Kohl's app users can scan Kohl's Cash and Yes2You rewards points and use its "Store Tools" and "Snap and Shop" features to shop more easily.

Dive Insight:

Retailers are poised to see holiday revenues top even last year's strong results, but, with consumers still keen on deals, promotions will be essential.

In part thanks to an extra shopping week this season, retailers could see a record number of days when they reach new revenue milestones, with 36 days that could top $2 billion, compared to just 22 days last year, according to research from Adobe. But profits could get hit by a number of factors, too, including higher labor and freight costs, according to a Morgan Stanley note emailed to Retail Dive.

Along with the best prices, shoppers are also looking for convenience during the busy season. More than three-quarters (77%) of holiday shoppers plan to complete at least some of their list online, but the real story is cross-channel purchasing, according to a recent study from The NPD Group. Six out of ten shoppers plan to go both online and to brick-and-mortar stores this season, an increase of three percentage points since last year, according to NPD.

Enticing stores are emerging as key to boosting online sales, according to Adi Biran, CEO of space rental firm Splacer. "Consumers are turning to online retailers to make purchases, yet creating experiences in real-time that will resonate with consumers encourages them to bring that relationship online when they are ready to make a purchase," she told Retail Dive earlier this year. "Brands have also realized that sometimes the social engagement generated from an interactive experience is more important than merchandise purchases in the moment." 

Kohl's has plenty of competition to contend with, especially as rivals have scrambled to take advantage of the demise of Toys R Us. Target, for example, has cleared space in many of its stores to make way for playing and an expanded toy assortment, which could boost its online sales as well as its brick-and-mortar sales, according to Biran.

The discount department store has spiffed up its once chaotic stores and is leveraging tech to better understand customers. Kohl's is employing local customer and store data and machine learning to guide its store managers' decisions, according to a report from Digiday. And Kohl's is looking to stand out not only by making its already popular Kohl's Cash more lucrative for customers, but also deepening its name-brand assortment, the retailer said, noting that among them are Nike, Levis, Under Armour, Adidas, Carter's, Dockers and an array of Google and Nest smart home products, among others.