In-Store Review

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/27/2012 2:00:00 AM

Home Textiles Today kicks off a new series this week called In-Store Review, critiquing branded private and captured label programs in home textiles stores and departments. Programs are rated on five criteria: 1. Design/creativity/aesthetic of the product; 2. Visual presentation in the store; 3. Packaging of the product; 4. Relevance of program to the store's target customer base; 5. Value of the program relative to the store mix and customer base. Each can be ranked from one (least) to five stars (best) and the overall score is an average of the five individual evaluations.

1 Design
"I would describe the collection as conservative master bedroom styling with some nice thoughts unrealized. No great things but nothing in bad taste either. But there's not enough excitement to trade the customer up and I question this customer's perception of what Jennifer Lopez represents in the design world. The Old Hollywood group is a symphony in gray and would do a lot of decorating work. It's cleverly designed and well executed. It's the most Glamorous J-Lo."
Rating: * *

2 Visual Presentation
"The selling floor is the enemy here. It is disorganized and designer collections are mixed at random with no logic. It would seem to make it very difficult for the customer to make decisions as there is no way to figure out what the components of an ensemble are and there's no one on the floor to answer questions. I give them credit for the electronic signage. That is a genuine great thing."
Rating: *

3 Packaging
"Packaging is attractive and sturdy with heavy-duty zippers when called for. But there's a minimum of information on a single room shot used throughout. Components, thread count and country of origin require serious searching."
Rating: * * *

4 Relevance to Store Customer
"Kohl's, I assume, considers this a higher end collection in its overall assortment. Adding such a level may be a good idea I suppose, but they are better off with the Vera Wang offerings, which in some cases are in direct competition to Lopez styles. I think they are over-complicated for a moderate customer who is looking for more value."
Rating: * *

5 Relative Value
"They get credit for the effort, but I don't see its value. Kohl's other exclusive collections without the ‘designer' name prestige cover all the bases very well and with much greater variety."
Rating: *

Overall Rating: 1.7 * *

Program: Jennifer Lopez
Store: Kohl's
Shopped at Kohl's Northgate Mall, San Rafael, CA and online at Kohls.com.
Reviewed by Julian Tomchin, former senior vice president for Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s West and Fieldcrest Cannon.