Kohl’s Mobile Makeover Shows Us Mobile Done Well

September 29, 2024 by

Increasingly, retailers are grasping the importance of offering mobile options to customers.

Customers like being able to shop on mobile devices, not necessarily as a replacement for brick-and-mortar or online venues, but rather as a supplement to these choices.

Window shopping has long been an exciting proposition for some, and with mobile devices, the window goes wherever the user goes. Kohl’s has taken advantage of this fact in recent days to build itself out as a major mobile shopping destination, and it seems to be paying off.

Kohl’s isn’t alone on this point: retailers from Best Buy to Walmart are working on major digital upgrades, though these upgrades are taking on various forms.

Some are focusing on rewards systems, others enhancing payment options, some even going so far as to attempt to incorporate virtual reality and other such exotic systems.

Kohl’s, however, is a bit different. With same-store sales on the decline and customers pulling in their collective wallets, it was a problem most every retailer was facing.

Taking the bull by the horns, Kohl’s stepped up its operations in mobile, set to release several big new adjustments ahead of the upcoming holiday shopping season. Basics like new mobile payment options will be on hand, as well as cardless checkout options, a single shopping bag for use across multiple platforms—go from mobile to desktop and the like quickly—and even Visa Checkout for better security. Kohl’s will even step up its same-day delivery option, though only in a few markets.

Naturally, some are wondering if this goes far enough, and the answer is that it probably doesn’t. However, it actually does go somewhere, and this is an important distinction. Sure, Kohl’s may not be embracing every last scrap of mobile, but it’s making at least some moves to accommodate that mobile interest.

We’ve already seen how mobile shopping for the holiday season may not be all that great anyway, so for Kohl’s to go a bit mum on the mobile isn’t that bad an idea.

Making mobile an option is a great way to go. Making it a robust and fully-realized option is great too. Given what we know so far, though, putting a lot of investment behind mobile shopping this year may not pay off particularly well, and Kohl’s strong but restrained stance should go a long way toward success.

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