Dive Brief:
- Continuing its housewares push, Kohl’s debuted two new private-label home goods collections, Miryana and Mingle & Co., for online and in-store shoppers, the department store announced Friday. The brands are designed by the company’s in-house design team.
- Miryana, the retailer’s linen and home goods brand, has “monochromatic and layerable” products and starts at $11.99. It features more than 170 pieces, including towels, comforters, sheets, shower curtains, quilts, rugs and accent pillows, the retailer said.
- Mingle & Co. has more than 400 kitchen and dining items, such as placemats, tablecloths, flatware, kitchen towels, cast iron Dutch ovens, aprons and countertop storage. The collection starts at $4.99.
Dive Insight:
The rollout of two new collections signals Kohl’s continued investment in the home goods category. A year ago the retailer said it would increase its home product assortment by 40%. The move is part of an overarching strategy to reposition and expand the department store’s assortment.
With Miryana and Mingle & Co. the company is stressing products that have great value. Most items are priced below $50 and assortments will be refreshed seasonally.
Kohl’s CEO Ashley Buchanan took the helm of the company at the start of the year. During Kohl’s latest earnings call, Buchanan talked about the retailer’s approach to offering both recognized brands and private labels.
“The customer will decide the mix in the end. I think there will always be a place for high-quality, high-value proprietary brands and then putting that in front of the customer, along with great quality national brands that people recognize and then you let the customer decide,” Buchanan said.
With one fewer week compared to last year, the company recently reported a 9.4% drop in Q4 net sales to $5.2 billion. Overall comps slipped 6.7% year over year, with store comps down 3.1% year over year and online comps down 13.4%. Net income dropped over 74% to $48 million compared to the year-ago period.
In January, the retailer said it would close 27 locations by April and shutter its San Bernardino, California, e-commerce fulfillment center in May. Later that month, the company cut its corporate workforce by 10%.