Market Comparison Between Two Premier Retail Giants
In the original report, Intelligence Node compared two of the largest departmental stores in the US- Macy’s & Kohl’s. Both these retailers have a significant offline footprint and are expanding fast online as well. The following summary examines the pricing, assortment, and product availability strategies employed by these competitors and a deep dive into category movement including OOS numbers and top trending styles. Read ahead for an analysis of both retailers’ merchandise as well as their similarities, strengths, and weaknesses. Also featured are granular details of pricing, discount, and in-stock/out-of-stock items across key attributes and sub-categories.
Research Methodology
Data used in this report is gathered from Intelligence Node’s retail analytics portal. The real-time data is powered by its patented similarity engine, proprietary AI algorithms, and advanced scrapers. This patented technology ensures a record-breaking 99%+ matching accuracy. Intelligence Node crawls Macy’s and Kohl’s daily, along with thousands of other brands and retailers, to generate highly accurate, real-time market data. The data points and more are accessible to Intelligence Node clients through custom dashboards, SaaS portal, or plug-and-play APIs. For the following analysis, however, covers limited data points. This report alone does not represent the vast scope of Intelligence Node’s intelligence-gathering capabilities. This report aims to understand the differences between Macy’s and Kohl’s from a broader perspective. Thus, it focuses on how each retailer individually navigates the tricky category of Fashion and succeeds in this hyper-competitive industry.
A Bird’s Eye Comparison & Key Takeaways
The apparel category undoubtedly holds center stage for both Macy’s and Kohl’s. This is evidenced by the high volume of products both stores have attributed to the same. Such emphasis highlights its strategic importance, as it serves as a significant revenue stream for both retailers.
Discounts & Pricing
Kohl’s offers a significantly higher median discount than Macy’s, making its prices more competitive.
Macy’s has a much higher overall average price than Kohl’s. That being said, the median price shows that the difference isn’t as staggering as it seems. This implies that Macy’s has certain, very expensive products that Kohl’s does not, which increases its average price.
Out-of-stock Prices
The in-stock median price is slightly higher for Macy’s. This stays the same for Kohl’s as compared to its overall median price.
The overall out-of-stock products have a lower median price and a higher median discount for both Macy’s and Kohl’s. These higher discounts and lower prices can be representative of high sales velocity, leading to stockouts. Brands offering such competitive prices could better manage their inventory by monitoring the sales velocity.
Top Categories
Both Macy’s and Kohl’s have a very high proportion of their overall products in the apparel category. The T-shirts and Tops category has the highest number of SKUs on both Macy’s and Kohl’s websites.
The distinction in Macy’s and Kohl’s is seen in their median pricing. Macy’s apparel behaves similarly to its overall average, where its lower median-priced and higher median-discounted products are out-of-stock. This represents higher sales velocity for low-priced (and highly discounted) apparel, leading to consequent stockouts.
Final Takeaways
Overall, Macy’s and Kohl’s use similar strategies to win the market, despite Macy’s having approximately 25% more products than Kohl’s. The distribution of products in the fashion category is similar for both retailers- the differentiation lies in how they focus on fashion subcategories.
Whilst both have a strong favor for the t-shirts and tops sub-category, Macy’s is not as aggressive as Kohl’s in its product distribution within this subcategory. Overall, higher discounts and lower prices seem to have a direct correlation with stockouts. This trend could be attributed to higher sales velocity for these products.
For a closer look into the statistics and analyses of the footwear, lingerie, and accessories categories by Macy’s and Kohl’s, the full report is available to download now. These additional categories offer valuable information and insight into the segment, along with a bird’s eye view of the retailers’ performance in each. Grab your free copy today!
