Includes Q&A

1. KOHL'S CASE STUDY
(CULTURE)
Group Members
Safwan Ahmed
Irshad Ahmed Saeedi
Talha Miraj
Malik Ejaz

2. Scheme of Presentation
• Overview
• Question #1
• Question #2
• Question #3
• Conclusion

3. Overview Contents
Brief History
Mission Statement
How kohl’s different
Focus on Location
Target Market
Products
Surpassing the competitors

4. Brief History
The story of the company began in
1962 when Max Kohl opened the first
Kohl's Department Store in Brookfield,
Wisconsin.

5. Kohl's Mission Statement
To be the leading family-focused, value oriented, specialty
department store offering quality exclusive and national brand
merchandise to the customer in an environment that is
convenient, friendly and exciting.

6. How Kohl’s is different
Kohl’s has been doing business quite differently than other
department stores.
• Approach: Its approach is built around convenience and price.
Kohl’s approach has been free-standing buildings with parking
lots in retailing power centers
• Structure: Its typical store is a box-like structure with a floor of
merchandise where shoppers use carts as they browse through
the simple racks and shelves of clothing, shoes etc.

7. Location
• The company is especially selective about its locations. Everything
about the way Kohl’s does business is who it sells to and how those
customers hinges on where it puts its stores.
• E.g., the Kohl’s store in Springfield, is located adjacent to a Walmart
Center, a Home Depot, a McDonald’s, a Michael’s hobby and crafts
store, and other casual dining restaurants
• In 2011, Kohl's to remodeled 100 of its 1,100 locations. Changes
included redone store sections, fitting rooms, and newer
merchandise displays.

8. Target Market
• The company’s target market is women ages 25 to 54 who
have children and whose annual household income is
moderate ranging from $35,000 to $75,000
• As the target customers are young mothers, they typically
don’t have the time for a long drive to a mall location and
certainly don’t want the parking hassles when they do go
shopping.

9. Products
Products
•Accessories
•Arts & Crafts
•Baby Gear
•Beauty
•Bed & Bath
•Books
•Clothing
•Electronics

10. Surpassing the Competitors
• Operating 1,158 stores in 49 states, Kohl's is America's largest
department store chain by the number of stores as of
February 2013—surpassed its biggest competitor, J.C Penney in
May 2012.
• In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, The chain was the 20th-
largest retailer in the US in 2013 in terms of revenue.
• As of 2013, Kohl's was the second largest U.S. department
store company by retail sales.

11. Discussion Questions
Q# 1
a).According to the case, what external trends did
managers at Kohl’s have to deal with?
b).In addition to these, what other external components
might be important to these managers?
c).How might they keep track of changes in these
components?

12. Discussion Questions
What External trends did managers at Kohl’s have to deal with?
• Addressing the needs of consumers.
• Identifying their target demographic.
Demographic variables
Age, income and geography, household size, education,
occupation, gender
Locating physical store location to be accessible for customers.

13. Discussion Questions
b)External components might be important to these managers
• Demographics is an important external component for managers.
• The Political and Regulatory
• The Economic
• The Competitive Component
• The Technological Component
• The Social and Cultural Component

14. Discussion Questions
c).How might they keep track of changes in
these components?
Constantly updating themselves on the
demographic:
• Through Census
• Conducts Surveys
• Department of Labor and Statistics
• Accurate Information

15. Question #2
If you were a manager at Kohl’s headquarters, what types of external information
might you want? What if you were a manager of a local Kohl’s store? What types
of external information might you want?
i) As A Manager at Kohl’s HQ
If I were a manager at a local Kohl’s store the types of external information
that I would want and would consider are demographics and technological
information.
Having the demographic information is vital because the need for connecting
with consumers is becoming increasingly necessary in order to build a
customer base and increase retention

16. • This connection cannot be made if the companies target market isn’t
clearly defined. Though there is no one category that everyone in the
target market will fit into, Kohl’s needs to define it market not just on a
grand level, but on a microscope level. This includes known what the
prevalent race, culture, age group, and many more components are in
the environment management decides to build a branch in.
• We need to know what is important to that specific group and what
affects/drives it. As management I would collect data from the target
group on a surface level and on a deeper level then translate that
information into a useful strategy to attract.

17. • Technological information is necessary because we now live in the
age where everything is expected to be fast and smooth. With our
target market (soccer moms) already being pressed for time the
store needs to be updated with the latest technology to get them in
and out as fast as possible. Updated technology information is also
important because our target market is ideally women with
children and families so low prices

18. ii) As A Manager at Kohl’s HQ
• To check out which product is unavailable on other stores
• An eye on other companies department stores
• Changing trends
• Using customers valued feedback as info and taking decisions
on that basis
• Can attract customers by placing product on our store
• Customers priorities
• Regular contact with suppliers

19. Question #3
What stakeholders do you think might be important to a
company like Kohl’s? What issues/concerns might be
important to those stakeholders? Explain your choices.
The groups that are the most influential to their immediate
situation are customers, suppliers, and competitors.
• With regard to customers, Kohl’s has done a good deal of
research on the desires of “soccer moms” and has based their
strategy of store placement on a model that appeals to this
demographic.

20. • Suppliers are also important as Kohl’s has sought to attract their
customers with product lines that are both traditional (i.e. Sag
Harbor and Jockey) and store brands (i.e. Casa Cristina and their
own line from the Food Network). Finally, competitors are a major
concern for Kohl’s as they seek to go against both the discount
retailers and higher end retail chains. ADDITIONAL CHAPTER
INFORMATION different examples of organizational culture in
business publications such as Wall Street Journal (“Marketplace”
section).

21. • Competitors are a major concern for Kohl’s as they seek to go
against both the discount retailers and higher end retail chains.
ADDITIONAL CHAPTER INFORMATION different examples of
organizational culture in business publications such as Wall
Street Journal (“Marketplace” section).

22. Conclusion
Although Kohl’s has done well so far in a difficult industry, faces some
serious challenges. In addition to uncertain external environment,
competitors ranging from JC Penney and Sears to Macy’s have copied its
approach. Retailers such as Old Navy (a unit of Gap, Inc.) and American
Eagle have shifted from trendy teenage fashion toward clothing that
appeals to moms. On the discount end, Walmart Stores has added
national brands and improved the quality of its apparel.
• work on changing demand on time
• manages a relationship with customers
• utilize efficient technological information systems
• maintain a good supply chain
• last but not the least maintain a good organizational behavior

23. Thank You