Author: Helen Thomas

Kohl’s Corp. has hired Starbucks’ Michelle Gass, the executive responsible for developing the then new Frappuccino into a $2 billion a year business that makes up one fifth of Starbucks sales.

The move is part of Kohl’s strategy to recapture the growth it enjoyed in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. “We probably got a little complacent and I think there was too much sameness,” said chairman, CEO and President Kevin Mansell in an interview last week.  A difficult Christmas selling season in 2011, followed by inventory problems the following spring — Kohl’s missed big on colored denim, for example — reinforced the need for change.

“We completely re-invented our merchandising leadership — our buying, our planning and our product development,” Mansell said. “We completely re-engineered our information technology area with new leaders.”

As “chief customer officer,” Gass will oversee the critical marketing function, the company’s rapidly growing e-commerce business and what retailers have taken to calling the “omni-channel” approach — a blending of Internet and brick-and-mortar shopping.

“She knows the Kohl’s brand,” Mansell said. “She’s a mom. She understands the store. She understands the brand. She understands the challenge. She’s executed something similar to what we need to do here.”

Perfume maker Coty Inc. (COTY) is seeking as much as $1.1 billion on behalf of its shareholders in a U.S. initial public offering set for June 12. The company’s owners, including private-equity firm Berkshire Partners, plan to offer 57.1 million shares for $16.50 to $18.50 each. Coty will not get any proceeds from the IPO.

New York based Coty filed for its IPO in June of last year, but delayed plans to complete the sale until this year, in part to give CEO Michele Scannavini, who took over the role August 1, 2012, time to acclimate.

Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are managing Coty’s sale. Coty, which holds perfume licenses for brands that include Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein, was founded in 1904 in Paris by Francois Coty.

Coty’s offering comes at a time when other publicly traded peers such as Estee Lauder and Avon have surged. Estee Lauder gained 19 percent and Avon 64 percent.

The New York Times and Forbes have both recently approached an issue every retailer is struggling with: “showrooming”.

“Showrooming” is the phenomenon of customers browsing and researching the retailer’s products, only to purchase it elsewhere for a lower price.  Many big retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy are price-matching and requiring unique SKUs to try to combat this problem. But how can retailers combat “showrooming” and stay competitive at full price?

Brands and retailers must strategically work together to offer custom solutions to meet their shoppers’ needs. Forrester revealed that 35 percent of shoppers are interested in custom products. Making customization a core partnership strategy is key for growth and focuses on the customer experience. Nike launched a customization program that resulted in over $100 million in revenue.

Customization creates a partnership between customers and brands. Providing a unique experience for customers will cement their loyalty and they will not have any need to look to the competition. They will stay loyal to get products they cannot get anywhere else. Only through a strong strategic partnership between brands and retailers can “showrooming” be taken out of the equation.

JC Penney reported a loss of $348 million for its first quarter, compared to $163 million comp last year amid a 16% decline in revenue.  The retailer is struggeling to recover from the business plans former CEO Ron Johnson had put in place.

JCP’s new CEO Mike Ullman said that reconnecting with customer will take time and that they “recognized the magnitude of the challenges that we face, and we belive we can put JC Penney back on a pathway to profitable growth”.   One of the strategies to put them back on track is to emphasize thier private brands.

Source: Marianne Wilson, Retailingtoday.com

The Accelerated Analytics team spent the week in Las Vegas at the National Hardware Show meeting with customers and prospective customers.  Most of the attendees we spoke with feel the economy is comming back and the remainder of 2013 will be pretty solid.  That view seems to be supported by the performance of the major retailer stock prices but the macro economic data are a bit more uncertain.  Several buyers we spoke with from national retailers said they will continue to be cautious with inventory investment so vendors will need to be careful to monitor inventory WOS to avoid stock outs. The buyers also mentioned they are taking a careful look at SKU assortments and will be more aggresive with eliminating poor performing SKU’s than in past years.  Vendors will need to be careful to analyze sales data and present an accurate but favorbale picture of SKU performance to avoid being on the chopping block.  When out of stocks are increasing due to lower on hand sales can take a hit that is not related to product quality so make sure you have the data to protect your SKU’s.

I was shoping at Kohl’s this morning and was somewhat surprised to see they are using digital price signs on all thier fixtures and racks.  I haven’t been into a Kohl’s for at least a year so I’m not sure if these are new or have been around a while.  Although the geek in me loves to see in store technology like this the business guy in me wonders what the ROI is on digital signs in a dept store.  I would be very interested in any commentary anyone would like to offer in regards to the installation price and payback on digital price signs vs. traditional paper tickets.  I can see the application in a grocery store where prices change frequently but in a department store I’m just not sure.

Office Depot and OfficeMax officially ended industry speculation today confirming they will merge into a single company.  OfficeMax shareholdersw will receive 2.69 Office Depot common shares for each share of OfficeMax common stock.

“In the past decade, with the growth of the internet, our industry has changed dramatically. Combining our two companies will enhance our ability to serve customers around the world, offer new opportunities for our employees, make us a more attractive partner to our vendors, and increase stockholder value,” said Neil Austrian, chairman and CEO of Office Depot. “Office Depot and OfficeMax share a similar vision and culture, and will greatly benefit from drawing on the industry’s most talented people, combining our best practices and realizing significant savings. We are confident that this merger of equals represents a new beginning for our two companies and will allow us to build a more competitive enterprise for the long term.”

“We are excited to bring together two companies intent on accelerating innovation for our customers and better differentiating us for success in a dynamic and highly competitive global industry,” said Ravi Saligram, president and CEO of OfficeMax. “We are confident that there will be exciting new opportunities for employees as part of a truly global business. Together, we will have the opportunity to build on our strong digital platforms and to expand our multichannel capabilities to better serve our customers and to compete more effectively. Importantly, this merger of equals transaction will provide stockholders of both companies with a compelling opportunity to participate in the long-term upside potential of the combined company.”

CAMBRIDGE, MA – All signs point to a strong rebound for home improvement activity in 2013, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released today by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.  Robust spending in the second half of 2012 suggests the remodeling recovery is already underway, and the LIRA projects annual homeowner improvement spending will see accelerating double-digit growth through the third quarter of 2013. This news comes just ahead of the release of the Joint Center’s biennial remodeling report, The U.S. Housing Stock: Ready for Renewal, scheduled for release next Wednesday, January 23.

“It’s encouraging to see the residential sector finally contribute to growth in our economy,” says Eric S. Belsky, managing director of the Joint Center.  “Through the first three quarters of 2012, investment in the residential sector was responsible for one out of every six dollars added to our GDP.  Moving forward, home improvement spending is expected to make an even larger contribution to GDP growth.”

“There are many external economic and political risks that could derail this remodeling recovery,” says Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center.  “However, the solid momentum behind home building activity, existing home sales, low financing costs, and remodeling contractor sentiment all point to a solid start to the new year for home improvement spending.”

To read more about the LIRA visit their website

The objective of sharing POS data with vendors should be to make it as easy to access as possible and above all convenient.  To our dismay a significant retailer in the home improvement space charges vendors a significant sum of money to purchase a secure ID and then has the following availability “Normal hours of operation for this server are Monday, 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM and Tuesday through Sunday 7:00 AM to 7:30 PM central standard time unless otherwise noted”.  So the hours that an analyst might be looking to catch up on the day’s to-do list may well be unavailable which is highly annoying after speding a significant sum of money to purchase and ID to access the system.  Really?  Is it that hard to improve your system availability?  It almost feels like the 1980’s all over again……