Kohl’s Augments its Customer Experience with New Mobile Options
A personal note here: I’m an occasional Kohl’s shopper. I find that it’s done quite well in the past for shoes. I’m one of the bigger sizes in footwear but Kohl’s has often had a nice lineup of options in that front.
Kohl’s isn’t just about big shoes, though; there’s a lot going on in a Kohl’s location these days, and while Kohl’s classified 2016 as a major year for digital advances, particularly mobile, the reality reflects that that’s going through quite nicely.
Kohl’s has been frantically at work over the last several months to drive change in its stores, and the mobile connection has proven one of the biggest fronts for change.
Not only has Kohl’s taken to offering mobile payment options in its stores, it’s also done just about everything else right with these changes as well.
It’s added its Yes2You loyalty rewards program to its lineup, and allowed gift cards to be used with the app while also routing promotional opportunities through it.
The Kohl’s mobile wallet system, essentially, is an end-to-end system that not only allows for payments, but incorporates all the added features that make for the best experience.
That’s paying off, as mobile is “heavily used” in the over-1,100 store locations that make up Kohl’s operations.
Kohl’s, in turn, is using the data derived from all those mobile shoppers to make changes in everyday operations, and has also put some extra power in the associates’ hands to help further the changes.
Perhaps the only downside of all this is that it likely won’t serve as a competitive advantage for Kohl’s for very long.
As mobile payment systems increasingly catch on and offer further value, the offerings at Kohl’s will likely only prove table stakes, what’s necessary just to get in on the game to begin with.
Users will come to expect this level of support, and those who don’t get it will simply leave that business’ rolls altogether.
Though Kohl’s advantage will likely prove only temporary, there’s plenty of room for future innovation.
With its first-mover advantage, it may have the best position to develop future operations and keep its lead in an increasingly challenging market sector.