How To Create An Online Shopping App Like Kohl’s

A busy and fast-paced lifestyle has rendered people rely upon online applications to make sure that the daily chores are being executed without any hazard. One of such applications that are making one shopping quite easy is Kohl’s. 

The application is primarily available as a retailer for accessories as well as clothing in the United States of America. The platform strives to present its customers with products that are of superior quality. Other than the quality of the products, the platform makes considerable efforts to keep the prices reasonable. Hence, the platform is considered among some of the most accessible apparel and accessories omnichannel. 

Kohl’s is spread over 49 states in the United States of America, with more than 1,100 stores. If you are looking for a highly comfortable shopping experience, whether online or offline, it is safe to state that Kohl’s will surely not let you down. Not only is the brand consistently growing, but it takes account of the CSR by supporting various communities all across the nation. 

Among all the leading apparel and accessories brands, Kohl’s is considered the one with the most sophisticated app. This attracts a great number of customers to download the application if you wish to come up with an application similar to that of Kohl’s.

 It is strongly advocated that you go through the below-mentioned pointers. These pointers include the growth timeline, business model, revenue model of Kohl’s, along with the features of the application to help you get a thorough insight regarding the brand as well as the application. Read on in order to know better. 

Growth Timeline of Kohl’s

Kohl’s came into existence back in the year 1946. It was the dedicated efforts of a grocery store operator, Maxwell Kohl that the first-ever supermarket was inaugurated in the Southeastern side of Wisconsin. Within a short span of time, the company observed a large profit. This was when Maxwell decided to expand the venture and come up with the plan to turn it into the largest chain of supermarkets in the Milwaukee region.

 All the stores were operating under the name of Kohl’s Food Stores. It is the success of these food stores that laid the foundation of the department stores, which branched out into a much diverse range of products.

Further, in the year 1972, the retail division of British-American Tobacco Company came forward with the intention of controlling stake in Kohl. Soon the acquisition took place. This acquisition helped Kohl reach great heights of success through the asset portfolio of 50 grocery stores along with three liquor stores, drug stores, and six department stores. 

The grocery store assets of the organization were sold out in the year 1893. This was when a group of investors acquired Kohl’s. The brand was further expanded significantly as the addition of about 27 new stores was made in a short time period of two years. 

By the end of 2002, when Kohl’s was celebrating its ten-year anniversary, the profits had increased to a respectable percentage of about 12.7. For the first time, the company surpassed 10 billion dollars. It was considered a celebration-worthy milestone for the company. 

Even though the celebrations were short-lived as the year 2003 did not turn out to be something great for Kohl’s. Their profits were not only stagnant but started to drop significantly. But the company made a steady comeback in 2005 when they created hype in the retail industry through the market campaigning of “expect great things”. 

In 2006, 85 new stores were opened not only in Wisconsin but in the Northern regions of Oregon and Washington. 

The company has been a part of some of the most prestigious lists comprising some of the best and largest retail groups in the United States of America. Kohl’s ranks 145th on the Fortune 500. Other than this, it was a part of the Forbes 2000 list with a reasonable rank of 808. The current market capitalization of the company is about 8.80 billion dollars. 

Kohl’s Business Model

In order to get a better clutch of the growth, check out the success factors responsible for the success of Kohl’s. It is more significant than ever that you make considerable efforts to learn about the business model of Kohl’s if you wish to come up with a similar application for retail business. The business model of Kohl’s can be analyzed thoroughly by exploring different aspects of it. The following is a list of pointers that you will be exploring in this section. Read on in order to know better. 

• Customer Segments

It is a well-established fact that a brand like Kohl has always believed in the diversity of its products; whether it is apparel or accessories, you will find different products of various age groups as well as different genders.
The customer demographics of the brand are quite large, making it a tad bit difficult for the experts to analyze considering the bulk of data one needs to deal with. However, if you really wish to narrow it down, it is safe to state that Kohl’s is extremely popular among women. 

The shopping deals as well as discounts offered by the platform attract a large number of female consumers who are estimated to be from the age group of 35 and 54. As per a recently conducted survey, these women form 40% of the entire consumer base, making it a huge part of the revenue resource. Hence, they make sure to direct their resources to fulfill the needs and requirements of this group. Other than this, the majority of the consumers are native Americans. Since the outlets are available in 49 out of the 50 states. It is quite easy to keep in touch with the consumers irrespective of fulfilling the orders through online portals or offline stores. 

• Value Propositions

When you are serving such a huge demographic, it can become quite difficult to have a hold over your audience, and chances to lose them to your competitors increase day by day. Thus, it is highly essential to provide value to the customers on a regular and consistent basis. The following is a list of some of the most innovative ways through which Kohl’s offers value to its innumerable customers. Read on to know more. 

• Reputation and Heritage

Over the years of its existence, Kohl’s has been highly successful in coming up with the reputation of a reliable retail provider of apparel as well as accessories. Considering the track record and growth of the brand, even though there were ups and downs, the company made it through all of it and emerged as a winner.

• Varied Product Portfolio

The products offered by the platform are available at reasonable prices, along with a great range of options to choose from. The broad catalog of products covers different products for all age groups and genders, ensuring to not exclude anyone.  

• Ease of Accessibility

As of now, there are almost 1,164 physical stores of the company stretched over 49 states of the USA. The addition of the online application significantly increases the customer base. 

• Strength of Brand

Since the inauguration of the first store, Kohl’s has been making every possible effort in order to make sure that it has a popular and well-known brand to help it stand out from its competitors. This has been attained by focusing precisely on a certain group of its customers- women aged 35 to 54. Most of the marketing campaigns and decisions are executed while keeping this demographic in consideration.

• Channels

Even though there are more than 1,100 stores all over the country, Kohl’s has made sure to come up with an online platform to streamline everything involved in the organization. Whether it is corporate activities, keeping up the morale, or maintaining healthy investor relationships, all of it takes place through the online channel.

While the corporate website takes care of the entire functionality of the organization to make sure there is no chaos, catering to the consumers is made possible through a different consumer-facing website. This website comprises the descriptions and information associated with the products and services being offered by the platform just as an online sales channel. The customers can browse through the products from Kohl’s and buy them. 

Other than these two websites catering to different goals and purposes, there is a mobile app available for both iOS as well as Android devices that can be downloaded from the respective apple store and play store. The apps are designed while considering the needs and requirements of the consumers in consideration. 

• Customer Relationships

The online retail platform enables the customers to browse through a wide range of products on their own. All of the products are sorted as per the category they fall into, making it easier for the customers to find what they need, along with taking care of customer requests and complaints.

The company offers an online support system to all the entities involved to make sure that the shipping and tracking of the products take place seamlessly. If you have any concerns regarding a shipment, delivery, or the products in general, you can check out the FAQ section. If you are still not satisfied with the answers, you can always reach out to the customer executives for additional help. Other than this, the company is available on all the prominent social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube.

• Key Partners

The following is a list of all the key partners working closely with the organization. The different categories in which the key partners can be classified are mentioned below. 

• Suppliers and Vendors

This consists of all of the suppliers working closely to ensure the customers can get a wide range of products to select from. 

• Brand Partners

High-profile companies share exclusive or even non-exclusive retail partnerships with the organization. 

• Channel and Distribution 

The distribution and delivery of the products from the company are taken care of by this division.

• Strategic and Alliance Partners

This category comprises multiple leading companies from the market offering expertise across the horizons of marketing, branding, and much more. 

• Key Resources

The intellectual properties, brands, a wide range of products, and supply chain primarily comprise the key resources of the company. At the same time, the physical properties are either owned or leased by the company. It is through consistent communication among all of the entities involved that ensures that there is no room for confusion or error in the process of offering high-end products to the customers. 

Kohl’s Revenue Model

In order to get a better outlook of how things work at Kohl’s, it is more important than ever for you to mark a check on the revenue model of the organization. It will help you to get an idea as to how the company is making money while taking care of its advances. If you are interested in creating a similar application, there is no possible scenario where you can go about without exploring the revenue model of the company. In order to know more about it precisely, explore the two below-mentioned pointers. 

Cost Structures

This section will help you understand how Kohl’s is spending its money efficiently so that it will eventually end up earning more than it is currently investing in keeping the company up and running. Cost structure can be accounted for through a detailed study of expenses made for the development of the online portal, IT and communications maintenance, infrastructure, advertising, resource management. For the year 2015, the cost structure accounted for 4.45 billion dollars. 

Revenue Streams

The sale of its products consisted of – apparel and accessories through the online and offline platforms. The general sales fee primarily derives the revenue. The revenue streams of the company were recorded to be about 19.20 billion dollars in 2015.

 

Features List Of An Online Shopping App Like Kohl’s

Customer Panel

• Product List & Categorization
• Product Detailing (Image & Video Gallery)
• Personalized Results & Notifications
• Product Wishlist
• Product Comparison Tool

Vendor Panel

• Registration/Login
• Active Subscription Plan
• Set-up & Management of Multiple Stores
• Automatic adjustment of Inventory on sale
• Managing Catalogue & Orders

Admin Panel

• Login Input with Login ID & Password
• Dashboard Management
• Manage Users (Customer/Seller)
• Manage Product category/subcategory
• Manage Promotions, Rewards, Points

Suitable Team Structure to Build an Online Shopping App Like Kohl’s

• 1-2 Web developers.
• 2 – Requirement analyst
• 2 – Android application developers
• 2 – QA engineers.
• 1-2 UI/UX designers
• 2 – IOS application developers

Technology Stack For Building an Online Shopping App Like Kohl’s

Application and Data

• Apache HTTP Server
• Amazon EC2
• Amazon S3
• Amazon Cloudfront
• Amazon EBS
• Amazon EMR
• Hogan.JS

Utilities

• Google Analytics
• AfterShip
• AppThwack

DevOps

• Jenkins
• RequireJS
• StatsD

Business Tools

• G Suite

Tips To Build An App Like Kohl’s

Since you are looking to build an app like Kohl’s, the following list of pointers will prove to be a great help. Go through these pointers to help you make the right choices.

• Before you head on to invest your time and money in the execution of the plans, make sure that you brainstorm different approaches in order to come up with the best possible approach. 
• Make sure that the user interface is simple yet effective in order to attract a larger number of users. 
• Have a grievance cell dedicated to learning about different ways through which you can improve the application in the best possible manner. 

See Also:

• Steps to Create An Ecommerce App Like Souq
• The Guide To Build An App Like LalaMove

Frequently Asked Questions for Building an Online Shopping App Like Kohl’s (FAQs)