Kohl's Expands Product Offerings and Holiday Season Discounts

In addition, the company will display more gifts in its stores and offer gift sets in a variety of categories, including doubling the number of Sephora Kohl's custom gift sets. According to the company, Kohl's will offer jewelry gifts under $25 and "thousands" of toys under $20.

"Kohl's understands how busy the holidays can be for families, so we're ready to help them with everything they need to prepare and celebrate, from decorating to gift-giving and rentals," said Nick Jones, Kohl's chief marketing officer, in a statement. "We expanded our assortment across categories to further position Kohl's stores as a cost-effective gift-giving destination."

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in emailed comments that while many of the new initiatives and changes are a step in the right direction, Kohl's very low volume growth will set it up for a challenging holiday season.

"Kohl's desperately needs a win this holiday season," Sanders said. "The company's retail business has been underperforming for a long time, losing a lot of customers and a lot of market share. It needs to show investors that it can stop this trend."

Kohl's CEO Tom Kingsbury said he was disappointed with the company's second-quarter performance, which saw sales drop 4.2 percent from a year earlier and comparable sales drop 5.1 percent.

But Saunders said expanding the product range and introducing more value through key price points is just one part of Kohl's solution to improving its retail business. "Kohl's also needs to improve the performance of its stores - it needs to create more holiday cheer in its stores and execute well."