Optimera: Kohl’s is using social data to steer its new fast-fashion label

måndag 28 november 2016

Kohl’s is using social data to steer its new fast-fashion label

K/Lab, the private-label brand recently launched by the department store Kohl’s.
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Kohl’s appointed a data scientist, now a crucial member of K/Lab’s three-person team—their job is to scan social platforms, follow bloggers and see what’s popular among their followers, and analyze customer behavior. They then aggregate the information for K/Lab’s style curator, who works with a product planner to finalize what items will be created. Finally, the retailer outsources the actual designing and production of the clothes—in whole, it makes for a 13-week turnaround period. New items—including tops, jackets, dresses, jumpsuits and skirts—are introduced each week, and each is priced between $28 and $78.
“It’s unique that we start with data first. Many [retailers] start with a concept first, then gather data. We allow the data to lead us to the concept,” said Lewis.
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Using data gathered from social media platforms to create relatively cheap fast-fashion items puts Kohl’s in a good spot to compete with other department stores and online platforms—as well as the likes of H&M and Forever 21, which are all vying for millennials’ dollars, said Marshal Cohen, the chief industry analyst of retail at research firm NPD.