"We Stopped Listening to the Customer": What Went Wrong at Kohl's

Kohl's lost its way by changing what its core customers came for. It cut categories they relied on, limited coupons and moved towards off-price retail. Its stock lost nearly 70% of its value over the five years to June 2026, and its CEO now says the company stopped listening to the customer.

How Kohl's got here

Kohl's built its business on middle-income shoppers, with value, its own brands and coupons driving loyalty. According to CNBC, its stock peaked at $82 in late 2018. It reported $20.23 billion in revenue for the year ended February 2019.

Then the decline set in, and the reporting points to three decisions.

• It removed categories people couldn't replace. CEO Michael Bender told CNBC that petites and jewellery were cut, even though shoppers could not easily substitute them.
• It changed the deal. Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom said limits on coupons, range changes and a push into off-price retail alienated core customers.
• It kept changing direction. AlixPartners' Sonia Lapinsky said shifts between athleisure, fashion and private label left customers unsure what to expect in store.

Not all of this was within Kohl's control. Department stores have struggled broadly, budgets are under pressure, and Walmart, T.J. Maxx and Amazon were all competing for the same shoppers. Still, Grom and Bender both point to decisions Kohl's made itself.

Is the turnaround working?

It is too early to say. Bender took over in late 2025 and has returned to Kohl's own brands, value and coupons. CNBC reported that Kohl's shares had climbed more than 130% in the year to June.

The sales picture is more mixed. In the quarter ended 1 August 2026, net sales and comparable sales both fell 0.9% to $3.3 billion, though Kohl's said the trend had improved and raised its full-year outlook. Reuters noted it was the 18th straight quarterly fall in comparable sales.

That is the real cost of losing your core customer: years of work can go into simply slowing the decline.

What marketers can check

1. Who relies on what you're changing? Before you remove a product, offer or policy, look at who buys it and how often. A small category can be the reason a loyal customer visits at all.
2. Can customers replace it easily? If they can't find it with you, they may take the rest of their spending elsewhere too.
3. Can they still describe you? Ask customers what you stand for. If the answers have shifted with each new strategy, your positioning has too.
4. Are you watching behaviour and sentiment together? Sales can lag behind what customers are already saying. Review complaints, reviews and repeat purchases side by side.

Kohl's is not the only long-running retailer dealing with these pressures. Read what went wrong at David Jones for an Australian example.

One way to read behaviour and sentiment together is InsightIQ by GalaxiQ, part of GalaxiQ's enterprise AI marketing platform. It connects campaign performance with what customers are saying, so teams can ask why a number moved in plain English. If your customer data is scattered across systems, what a customer data platform does is a useful place to start.