As department stores continue to seek solutions for their recent financial woes, two household names are responding by beefing up their private label selections. JCPenney and Kohl’s are hoping that their own in-house brands can bring back some luster to a vertical that has performed poorly in recent years.
JCPenney launched its first weeklong “Penney Days” event on Feb. 28 in an effort to promote its “Get Your Penney’s Worth” campaign and renew the focus on private label brands such as St. John’s Bay, Arizona and Stafford. As part of the campaign, consumers who purchase select private label items from the store or the web site at a regular price can purchase another private label item for only a penny.
Numerous sales for the Penney Days campaigns are expected to continue throughout 2016, with JCPenney marketing the campaign through its weekly sales circulars, television spots and social media, all supported by the hashtag #SoWorthIt.
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Private Label’s Major Contribution To Revenues
In an effort to jumpstart its floundering “Greatness Agenda,” Kohl’s relaunched its Sonoma Goods For Life private label brand. The retailer is attempting to rebuild the brand’s identity by improving the quality of the apparel and accessories, moving certain items to other brands and scrapping a portion of the products that were initially included. Kohl’s private label brands, which also include Croft & Barrow and Apt 9, generated nearly half of the retailer’s $19 billion 2016 sales.
As part of the increased priority of the Sonoma label, merchandising decisions will now be made on a monthly basis instead of a seasonal basis.
Even Amazon has introduced its own private label clothing brands to its e-Commerce offerings. While the retailer is unlikely to make the brands a primary offering throughout its site, the move to private label sales shows that Amazon believes its own apparel could fill shopping demands whenever a third party backs out.
Department stores are engaged in a tricky balancing act. On the one hand. their identity has always involved offering a mix of hundreds of retail brands in every store. However, as more consumers seek out their favorite brands in other locations, the department store’s strength — its smorgasbord of products in multiple categories — is no longer a unique proposition. Department stores, whether physical or online, become just another spot to make a purchase.
But by taking a more aggressive approach to private label products, which by definition are unique to them, department stores just might have a better chance to reel the consumer in and establish a new identity going forward.
