Kohl’s is taking the broad view of omnichannel retailing as it is working on new ways to make the customer’s shopping experience as hassle free as possible online and on the sales floor, Ratnakar Lavu, the company’s chief technology officer, stated in a presentation at the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York.
Lavu said that the company is focused on a customer-centric strategy designed to make interactions as easy as possible. So the company is combining efforts to help shoppers locate product in stores more easily with a refined method of paying for goods that incorporates all the various programs Kohl’s provides its customers as purchase incentives.
A key is Kohl’s Pay. The mobile payment option, contained in the Kohl’s app, unites the retailer’s credit card and loyalty programs so consumers who use it get any promotional offers automatically assigned to the transaction and receive points per purchase, Lavu pointed out. Not only does that make payment easier online or in store, but the shopper can call up the app and get the deals they have coming without having to carry cards around with them. The program is limited to those consumers holding a Kohl’s credit card, but Lavu said the idea was to reward the company’s best shoppers for their business while creating an incentive for average shoppers to get more involved with the retailer. Eventually, as the program expands, Kohl’s will make it a feature of its customer acquisition efforts as the company promotes how Kohl’s Pay makes paying easy while ensuring that users get all the discounts and rewards they merit.
At the same time, Kohl’s is applying big data and machine learning functions to make online shopping easier. As it tracks customer visits, the company’s websites will become better at searching for and recommending products that interaction history suggests are most relevant to each shopper.
Kohl’s is looking at a variety of ways that it can make the shopping experience easier and more pleasant for the consumer, Lavu said, and new in-store elements are or will shortly be subject to testing. He added that the recent holiday shopping season demonstrated that consumers are beginning to become more embracing of digital technologies and what they bring to shopping. Although it will take time, he said, Kohl’s is on track to establish a fresh shopping experience for customers that should facilitate new and increasingly serene interactions.
