Technology Fueled Retail at Kohl’s
Kohl’s continued focus on technology supports our customer and associate experiences.
Kohl’s Technology team has been busy! In 2017, the team continued to enhance our omnichannel experience, drive efficiency for our store teams, and innovate and automate our e-fulfillment centers.
“From cloud migration to mobile to artificial intelligence and chatbots, we’re driving the technologies that make a difference for our customers and our associates now and in the future.” - Ratnakar Lavu, EVP, Chief Technology Officer
Many technology initiatives came to life at Kohl’s in 2017. Here are just a sample of technology trends and how Kohl’s is implementing them:
Cloud: In 2017, we began setting up the foundation to transition Kohl’s to cloud computing, which runs software and services on-demand through the internet instead of in Kohl's own data centers. Cloud services cut costs and allow our business to be more agile and efficient. As we’ve begun moving systems to the cloud, we’ve identified areas for optimization and automation.
Mobile: Increasing customer use of mobile devices continues to drive our digital growth. In 2017, we focused heavily on improving productivity of our mobile channels. Customers love our industry-leading mobile wallet, with more than half our in-store app users taking advantage of the ease and accessibility of storing offers and Kohl’s Cash at the touch of a button.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Kohl’s continues to bet on this top-trending technology, using AI to deliver an enhanced shopping experience. AI has improved Kohl’s order sourcing and provided smarter inventory and warehouse management, as well as enabled new ways to help customers find the items they need with chatbots and visual search.
Chatbots: We’re leveraging Kohl’s chatbots on Facebook Messenger and Kohls.com to assist with customer support, help customers with product knowledge and purchases, and provide store information.
It’s new technologies like these that support Kohl’s unrelenting customer focus and pave the way for new capabilities and innovation that make shopping at Kohl’s even easier, now and into the future.
