Instacart is now Kohl’s exclusive same-day delivery partner. Customers can also connect their Kohl’s Rewards account to their Instacart purchases. Courtesy of Instacart
By Tatiana Walk-Morris
Source: www.retaildive.com, May 2024

Dive Brief:

  • Harnessing its brick-and-mortar locations, Kohl’s is now offering same-day delivery via the Instacart app, according to a Thursday press release.
  • Using Instacart, customers can place orders for same-day or scheduled delivery from 1,172 Kohl’s locations nationwide. The retailer is offering product categories such as beauty, skin care, pet supplies, accessories and home essentials for delivery, according to the announcement.
  • Shoppers will be able to earn Kohl’s Rewards with their Instacart purchases.

Dive Insight:

Kohl’s is tapping into Instacart’s customer base of 109 million U.S. households as it leverages its physical footprint.

In a call with analysts last November, Kohl’s CEO Tom Kingsbury noted that the retailer’s digital side was hampering its growth, however he said that he was “confident about the fact that we are doing well in stores.” Concentrating on its merchandise, the retailer recently announced an exclusive licensing deal with Babies R Us to introduce shop-in-shops within more than 200 stores by this fall. In March, Kohl’s also unveiled plans to grow its home goods and decor assortment by 40%.

Kohl’s reported Q4 net sales fell 1.1% to $5.7 billion year over year, with comparable sales down 4.3%. Net sales for fiscal year 2023 decreased 3.4% year over year to $16.6 billion, while comparable sales decreased 4.7%.

“With Kohl’s as one of the first department stores on our platform, we’re proud to continue expanding our selection beyond grocery, making everyday shopping for our customers easier for their busy lives,” Blake Wallace, senior director of retail partnerships at Instacart, said in a statement. “We’re committed to offering customers a broad selection of items and ways to get exactly what they need from the retailers they know and love.”

Though retailers are flocking to platforms like Instacart and its competitors, it remains unclear whether same-day deliveries will influence customers to make purchases. Less than half (47%) of respondents to a Forrester survey released last December said same-day deliveries didn’t persuade them to buy from a particular brand or retailer.