Kohl’s shacks up with Babies “R” Us as retailers bet on stores-in-stores
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Rockabye retail… is cooing back to life. This week, Kohl’s started bringing Babies “R” Us shops into its department stores, with plans to have 200 locations by this fall. Babies “R” Us went out of business in 2018 along with its then parent Toys “R” Us, but last year the baby retailer opened a new flagship store at the American Dream mall in New Jersey. With the partnership, Kohl’s can broaden its baby goods selection (which used to be only clothes) to include essentials like strollers, car seats, and cradles.
Carpool: Since most of Kohl’s 1.1K+ stores are located in suburban strip malls, the retailer hopes its Babies “R” Us shops-in-shops will lure errand-running parents.
Splurgin’ on $2K bassinets… US birth rates have tumbled to 40-year lows as the age of first-time parents rises (the median age to give birth is 30). Since older households tend to have more disposable income, retailers are betting parents will splurge on their newborns. Target and Walmart recently expanded their baby departments. In May, Macy’s launched its first baby registry service. Meanwhile, baby registry Babylist said it has 9M customers/year.
Bag o’ nappies: A poll found that 86% of moms are making registries. That’s more than in the past decade.
Old cribs can cradle new biz… Retailers are increasingly using “inception retail” (aka mini stores-in-stores) to integrate well-known retailers into their offerings — and compete with mega marketplaces like Amazon. Target shacked up with Ulta Beauty, opening 100+ shops-in-shops, and in 2021 Kohl’s brought in mini Sephora stores. In March, Kohl’s said that its Sephora shops had topped $1.4B in sales and that it planned to open 140 more this year.