[030318.EN.BIZ] Kohl Boss: Big Supply Chain Role Yet For Brick-and-Mortar Stores

BRICK-AND-MORTAR and mortar stores will remain vital to the retail supply chain, according to a top executive of the Kohl's department stores, reported the American Journal of Commerce.

Speaking to 1,500 delegates at the recent Retail Industry Leaders Association's supply chain conference in Phoenix, Kohl's president-elect Sona Chawla said: "We have very few customers who shop only digital. We have a strong belief that physical stores matter."

Ms Chawla, whose Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based company has more than 1,100 stores in said Kohl's has seen the e-commerce share of its sales increase to 19 per cent in 2017 from five per cent in 2011, but that 90 per cent of customers shop in the chain's stores.

Customers in stores may be picking up items bought online, she said, while store traffic also has been driven by a pilot programme announced last year that allows consumers to make returns to Kohl's stores of items purchased online via Amazon.

Noting that 80 per cent of Americans live within 15 miles of a Kohl's store, Ms Chawla said the stores have become "mini fulfilment centres," with stores fulfilling 32 per cent of the company's online demand.

Ms Chawla told the recent gathering of 1,500 leaders of retail companies and logistics providers that brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce should efficiently work together, commenting, "It's the combination of the two that's really going to matter."

Although costs related to speedy shipping of smaller packages are greater than those involved with the traditional siloed supply chain, Ms Chawla said the extra expense is worth it in retaining valued customers.

The future of the retail supply chain, she said, is increasingly interconnected and ultimately is "sensing, self-healing, self-training, faster and cheaper", she said.

Source : HKSG.