New CEO Says Kohl’s Doesn’t Need ‘Total Overhaul.’ Investors May Disagree

Tom Kingsbury, in his first earnings conference call as Kohl’s new CEO, said he wanted to make sure analysts understand that the task facing him is “not a total overhaul.”

Kohl’s, Kingsbury said, has a solid foundation and a number of promising initiatives in place that will help it drive growth, execute more efficiently, and gain market share.

“The reason why I came back to Kohl’s is because I see these opportunities, and I see that we can take advantage of these opportunities in the future,” Kingsbury said in the call.

But investors also see a lot of problems, and they reacted to today’s earnings news by driving Kohl’s stock down by more than 3% after the call.

Kohl’s reported that net sales fell 7.2% during the fourth quarter, with comp store sales down 6.6%. The retailer reported a loss of $273 million, or $2.49 per share for the quarter, instead of the profit of 98 cents a share expected by analysts.

Kingsbury was named interim CEO in November after CEO Michelle Gass left to become President at Levi Strauss & CoLEVI
. Kingsbury, a former Kohl’s board member, became permanent CEO last month.

One of the biggest opportunities Kingsbury sees for Kohl’s is the potential to use its Sephora partnership to attract more young female shoppers to Kohl’s.

Kohl’s, Kingsbury said, is adding products to catch the eye of the younger shoppers coming in to buy Sephora products. “We want to make sure that they can also buy women’s apparel, women’s accessories, women’s footwear” and other merchandise, he said.

The partnership with Sephora, which brought Sephora stores-within-a-store into Kohl’s stores, has been one of Kohl’s biggest successes in recent years. The 200 Sephora shops that opened in 2021 had high-single-digit comp growth in the quarter, and the 400 shops that opened in 2022 showed better than expected results, Kingsbury said.

The retailer plans to open another 250 Sephora shops this summer, bringing the total for its standard 2,500 square-foot Sephora shops to 850. It also plans to open 50 smaller format Sephora shops, and expand the Sephora presence to all Kohl’s stores by 2025.

Last year, eight million Kohl’s customers bought Sephora products in Kohl’s stores, and total beauty sales increased 90% in the 4th quarter, Kingsbury said.

In the earnings call Kingsbury outlined proactive steps Kohl’s has taken to reduce inventory, and to realign management to enable the company to operate more efficiently, and to execute more effectively. He noted that he recently hired David Alves as President and COO, and Nick Jones as Chief Merchandising and Digital Officer.

Kingsbury said he has visited a number of Kohl’s stores in recent months, and that he is convinced that Kohl’s continues to fill “an important need in the market offering highly relevant products at a great value to millions of customers in conveniently located stores across the U.S. and online.”

To succeed Kingsbury and his new executives, however, will have to give shoppers more reasons to enter a Kohl’s store other than to look for the Sephora shop.