The brilliance of Kohl's OR What's in a name

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

All major stores do this. Craftsman, Amanna, Greatland, Mossimo, there are THOUSANDS of "brands" that re "exclusive" to big stores.

Craftsman, Mossimo, and I believe Greatland (dunno about Amanna) can all be found in stores other than their original. Yes, they started that way, but those brands were marketed as brands and eventually franchised out. The Craftsman name, for example, was pushed...and look what happened to Sears. It almost died in the early 90s once demand for their exclusive brands outpaced demand for the store. Now they're back, but have slid in terms of brand loyalty. I believe that's what Kohl's is trying to avoid.

Now the brand is probably associated with a design team somewhere, but I wonder to what extent that is outsourced as well. I know Target and K-mart have been trying to link their brands to well known designers (e.g. Michael Graves) as a strategy, which I think has been working in thier favor.

With Kohl's I think it's more than just the design team. Certainly they've got some oversees deals with independent manufacturers to do the assembly work, but from the research I've done, the brands are wholly Kohl's-owned. Unlike Target that has to pen a licensing deal to sell those designer names, as well as share in profits, Kohl's owns the whole shebang, lowering overhead and keeping a larger chunk of the sale. Thus, more control over quality and price.