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KSS 2020-02-01

Part I Print

Item 1. Business Print

Item 1A. Risk Factors Print

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments Print

Item 2. Properties Print

Item 3. Legal Proceedings Print

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures Print

Item 4A. Information About Our Executive Officers Print

Part II Print

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities Print

Item 6. Selected Consolidated Financial Data Print

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Print

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk Print

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data Print

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosures Print

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures Print

Item 9B. Other Information Print

Part III Print

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance Print

Item 11. Executive Compensation Print

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters Print

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence Print

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services Print

Part IV Print

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules Print

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary Print

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Table of Contents

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

 

 

or

 

 

Commission file number 1-11084

KOHL’S CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (262) 703-7000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulations S-T (232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes  ☐    No  ☒

At August 2, 2019, the aggregate market value of the voting stock of the Registrant held by stockholders who were not affiliates of the Registrant was approximately $8.0 billion (based upon the closing price of Registrant’s Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange on such date).

At March 11, 2020, the Registrant had outstanding an aggregate of 155,246,500 shares of its Common Stock.

Documents Incorporated by Reference:

Portions of the Proxy Statement for the Registrant’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 13, 2020 are incorporated into Part III.

 

 

 

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

INDEX

 

 

 

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PART I

Item 1. Business

Kohl’s Corporation (the “Company," “Kohl’s,” "we," "our" or "us") was organized in 1988 and is a Wisconsin corporation. As of February 1, 2020, we operated 1,159 Kohl's stores, a website (www.Kohls.com), and 12 FILA outlets. Our Kohl's stores and website sell moderately-priced private and national brand apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty, and home products. Our Kohl's stores generally carry a consistent merchandise assortment with some differences attributable to local preferences. Our website includes merchandise that is available in our stores, as well as merchandise that is available only online.

Our merchandise mix includes both national brands and private brands that are available only at Kohl's. Our private portfolio includes well-known established brands such as Apt. 9, Croft & Barrow, Jumping Beans, SO, and Sonoma Goods for Life, and exclusive brands that are developed and marketed through agreements with nationally-recognized brands such as Food Network, LC Lauren Conrad, and Simply Vera Vera Wang. Compared to private brands, national brands generally have higher selling prices, but lower gross margins.

The following tables summarize our sales penetration by line of business and brand type over the last three years:

 

Our fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to January 31^st each year. Unless otherwise stated, references to years in this report relate to fiscal years rather than to calendar years. The following fiscal periods are presented in this report:

 

 

For discussion of our financial results, see Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

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Distribution

We receive substantially all of our store merchandise at our nine retail distribution centers. A small amount of our merchandise is delivered directly to the stores by vendors or their distributors. The retail distribution centers, which are strategically located throughout the United States, ship merchandise to each store by contract carrier several times a week. Digital sales may be picked up in our stores or are shipped from a Kohl’s fulfillment center, retail distribution center or store, either by a third-party fulfillment center or directly by a third-party vendor.

See Item 2, “Properties,” for additional information about our distribution centers.

Employees

During 2019, we employed an average of approximately 122,000 associates, which included approximately 37,000 full-time and 85,000 part-time associates. The number of associates varies during the year, peaking during the back-to-school and holiday seasons. None of our associates are represented by a collective bargaining unit. We believe we maintain positive relations with our associates.

Competition

The retail industry is highly competitive. Management considers style, quality, price, and convenience to be the most significant competitive factors in the industry. Merchandise mix, brands, service, loyalty programs, credit availability, and customer experience are also key competitive factors. Our primary competitors are traditional department stores, mass merchandisers, off-price retailers, specialty stores, internet and catalog businesses, and other forms of retail commerce. Our specific competitors vary from market to market.

Merchandise Vendors

We purchase merchandise from numerous domestic and foreign suppliers. All suppliers must meet certain requirements to do business with us. Our Terms of Engagement are part of our purchase order terms and conditions and include provisions regarding laws and regulations, employment practices, ethical standards, environmental requirements, communication, monitoring and compliance, record keeping, subcontracting, and corrective action. We expect that all suppliers will comply with our purchase terms and quickly remediate any deficiencies, if noted, to maintain our business relationship.

A third-party purchasing agent sources approximately 20% of the merchandise we sell. No vendor individually accounted for more than 10% of our net purchases in 2019. We have no significant long-term purchase commitments with any of our suppliers and believe that we are not dependent on any one supplier or one geographical location. We believe we have good working relationships with our suppliers.

Seasonality

Our business, like that of most retailers, is subject to seasonal influences. The majority of our sales and income are typically realized during the second half of each fiscal year. The back-to-school season extends from August through September and represents approximately 15% of our annual sales. Approximately 30% of our annual sales occur during the holiday season in the months of November and December. Because of the seasonality of our business, results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for the fiscal year.

Trademarks and Service Marks

KOHL'S® is a registered trademark owned by one of our wholly-owned subsidiaries. We consider this mark and the accompanying goodwill to be valuable to our business. This subsidiary has over 200 additional registered trademarks, most of which are used in connection with our private brand products.

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Available Information

Our corporate website is https://corporate.kohls.com. Through the “Investors” portion of this website, we make available, free of charge, our proxy statements, Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Forms 3, 4, and 5, and any amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material has been filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.

The following have also been posted on our website, under the caption “Investors” and sub-caption "Corporate Governance":

The information contained on our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Paper copies of any of the materials listed above will be provided without charge to any shareholder submitting a written request to our Investor Relations Department at N56 W17000 Ridgewood Drive, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051 or via e-mail to Investor.Relations@Kohls.com.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

This Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” made within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "may," "intends," "will," "should," "expects," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include comments about our future sales or financial performance and our plans, performance and other objectives, expectations or intentions, such as statements regarding our liquidity, debt service requirements, planned capital expenditures, future store initiatives, and adequacy of capital resources and reserves. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s then-current views and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. As such, forward-looking statements are qualified by those risk factors described below. Forward-looking statements relate to the date made, and we undertake no obligation to update them.

Our sales, revenues, gross margin, expenses, and operating results could be negatively impacted by a number of factors including, but not limited to those described below. Many of these risk factors are outside of our control. If we are not successful in managing these risks, they could have a negative impact on our sales, revenues, gross margin, expenses, and/or operating results.

Macroeconomic and Industry Risks

Actual or threatened epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks, or other public health crises may adversely affect our customers’ financial condition and the operations of our business.

Our business could be materially and adversely affected by the risks, or the public perception of the risks, related to an epidemic, pandemic, outbreak, or other public health crisis, such as the recent outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The risk of a pandemic, or public perception of the risk, could cause customers to avoid public places, including retail properties, and could cause temporary or long-term disruptions in our supply chains and/or delays in the delivery of our inventory. Further, such risks could also adversely affect our customers' financial condition, resulting in reduced spending for the merchandise we sell. Moreover, an epidemic, pandemic, outbreak or other public health crisis, such as COVID-19, could cause employees to avoid our properties, which could adversely affect our

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ability to adequately staff and manage our businesses. Risks related to an epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis, such as COVID-19, could also lead to the complete or partial closure of one or more of our stores, facilities or operations of our sourcing partners. The ultimate extent of the impact of any epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis on our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the severity of such epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis and actions taken to contain or prevent their further spread, among others. These and other potential impacts of an epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis, such as COVID-19, could therefore materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

General economic conditions, consumer spending levels, and/or other conditions could decline.

Consumer spending habits, including spending for the merchandise that we sell, are affected by many factors including prevailing economic conditions, levels of employment, salaries and wage rates, prevailing interest rates, housing costs, energy and fuel costs, income tax rates and policies, consumer confidence, consumer perception of economic conditions, and the consumer’s disposable income, credit availability, and debt levels. The moderate-income consumer, which is our core customer, is especially sensitive to these factors. A slowdown in the U.S. economy or an uncertain economic outlook could adversely affect consumer spending habits. As all of our stores are located in the United States, we are especially susceptible to deteriorations in the U.S. economy.

Consumer confidence is also affected by the domestic and international political, public health and welfare situation. The outbreak or escalation of war, pandemics, or the occurrence of terrorist acts or other hostilities in or affecting the United States, could lead to a decrease in spending by consumers.

Our competitors could make changes to their pricing and other practices.

The retail industry is highly competitive. We compete for customers, associates, locations, merchandise, services, and other important aspects of our business with many other local, regional, and national retailers. Those competitors include traditional department stores, mass merchandisers, off-price retailers, specialty stores, internet and catalog businesses, and other forms of retail commerce.

We consider style, quality, price, and convenience to be the most significant competitive factors in our industry. The continuing migration and evolution of retailing to digital channels have increased our challenges in differentiating ourselves from other retailers especially as it relates to national brands. In particular, consumers can quickly and conveniently comparison shop with digital tools, which can lead to decisions based solely on price. Unanticipated changes in the pricing and other practices of our competitors may adversely affect our performance.

Tax and trade policies could adversely change.

Uncertainty with respect to tax and trade policies, tariffs, and government regulations affecting trade between the United States and other countries has recently increased. We source the majority of our merchandise from manufacturers located outside of the United States, primarily in Asia. Major developments in tax policy or trade relations, such as the imposition of tariffs on imported products, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and liquidity.

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Operational Risks

We may be unable to offer merchandise that resonates with existing customers and attracts new customers as well as successfully manage our inventory levels.

Our business is dependent on our ability to anticipate fluctuations in consumer demand for a wide variety of merchandise. Failure to accurately predict constantly changing consumer tastes, preferences, spending patterns, and other lifestyle decisions could create inventory imbalances and adversely affect our performance and long-term relationships with our customers. Additionally, failure to accurately predict changing consumer tastes may result in excess inventory, which could result in additional markdowns and adversely affect our operating results.

We may be unable to source merchandise in a timely and cost-effective manner.

A third-party purchasing agent sources approximately 20% of the merchandise we sell. The remaining merchandise is sourced from a wide variety of domestic and international vendors. Our ability to find qualified vendors and access products in a timely and efficient manner is a significant challenge which is typically even more difficult for goods sourced outside the United States, substantially all of which are shipped by ocean to ports in the United States. Political or financial instability, trade restrictions, tariffs, currency exchange rates, transport capacity and costs, pandemic outbreaks, work stoppages, port strikes, port congestion and delays, and other factors relating to foreign trade are beyond our control and could adversely impact our performance.

Increases in the price of merchandise, raw materials, fuel, and labor or their reduced availability could increase our cost of merchandise sold. The price and availability of raw materials may fluctuate substantially, depending on a variety of factors, including demand, weather, supply conditions, transportation costs, energy prices, work stoppages, government regulation and policy, economic climates, market speculation, and other unpredictable factors. An inability to mitigate these cost increases, unless sufficiently offset with our pricing actions, might cause a decrease in our operating results. Any related pricing actions might cause a decline in our sales volume. Additionally, a reduction in the availability of raw materials could impair the ability to meet production or purchasing requirements in a timely manner. Both the increased cost and lower availability of merchandise, raw materials, fuel, and labor may also have an adverse impact on our cash and working capital needs as well as those of our suppliers.

If any of our significant vendors were to become subject to bankruptcy, receivership, or similar proceedings, we may be unable to arrange for alternate or replacement contracts, transactions, or business relationships on terms as favorable as current terms, which could adversely affect our sales and operating results.

Our vendors may not adhere to our Terms of Engagement or to applicable laws.

A substantial portion of our merchandise is received from vendors and factories outside of the United States. We require all of our suppliers to comply with all applicable local and national laws and regulations and our Terms of Engagement for Kohl's Business Partners. These Terms of Engagement include provisions regarding laws and regulations, employment practices, ethical standards, environmental requirements, communication, monitoring and compliance, record keeping, subcontracting, and corrective action. From time to time, suppliers may not be in compliance with these standards or applicable laws. Significant or continuing noncompliance with such standards and laws by one or more suppliers could have a negative impact on our reputation and our results of operations.

Our marketing may be ineffective.

We believe that differentiating Kohl's in the marketplace is critical to our success. We design our marketing and loyalty programs to increase awareness of our brands and to build personalized connections with new and existing customers. We believe these programs will strengthen customer loyalty, increase the number and frequency of customers that shop our stores and website, and increase our sales. If our marketing and loyalty programs are not successful, our sales and operating results could be adversely affected.

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The reputation and brand image of Kohl’s and the brands and products we sell could be damaged.

We believe the Kohl's brand name and many of our private brand names are powerful sales and marketing tools. We devote significant resources to develop, promote, and protect private brands that generate national recognition. In some cases, the private brands or the marketing of such brands are tied to or affiliated with well-known individuals. We also affiliate the Kohl’s brand with third-party national brands that we sell in our store and through our partnerships with companies in pursuit of strategic initiatives. Damage to the reputations (whether or not justified) of the Kohl’s brand, our private brand names or any affiliated individuals or companies with which we have partnered, could arise from product failures; concerns about human rights, working conditions and other labor rights and conditions where merchandise is produced; perceptions of our pricing and return policies; litigation; vendor violations of our Terms of Engagement; perceptions of the national vendors and/or third party companies with which we partner; or various other forms of adverse publicity, especially in social media outlets. This type of reputational damage may result in a reduction in sales, operating results, and shareholder value.

There may be concerns about the safety of products that we sell.

If our merchandise offerings do not meet applicable safety standards or our customers' expectations regarding safety, we could experience lost sales, experience increased costs, and/or be exposed to legal and reputational risk. Events that give rise to actual, potential, or perceived product safety concerns could expose us to government enforcement action and/or private litigation. Reputational damage caused by real or perceived product safety concerns could have a negative impact on our sales and operating results.

We may be unable to adequately maintain and/or update our technology platforms.

The efficient operation of our business is dependent on our technology platforms. In particular, we rely on our technology platforms to effectively manage sales, distribution, and merchandise planning and allocation functions. We also generate sales through the operations of our Kohls.com website and mobile application. We frequently make investments that will help maintain and update our existing technology platforms. We also depend on third parties as it relates to our technology platforms. In particular, we are currently migrating certain systems and applications to cloud environments that are hosted by third-party service providers. The potential problems and interruptions associated with implementing technology initiatives, the failure of our technology platforms to perform as designed, or the failure to successfully partner with our third party service providers, such as our cloud platform providers, could disrupt our business and harm our sales and profitability.

Our information technology projects may not yield their intended results.

We regularly have internal information technology projects in process. Although the technology is intended to increase productivity and operating efficiencies, these projects may not yield their intended results or may deliver an adverse user or customer experience. We may incur significant costs in connection with the implementation, ongoing use, or discontinuation of technology projects, or we may fail to successfully implement these technology initiatives, or achieve the anticipated efficiencies from such projects, any of which could adversely affect our operations, liquidity, and financial condition. 

Weather conditions and natural disasters could adversely affect consumer shopping patterns and disrupt our operations.

A significant portion of our business is apparel and is subject to weather conditions. As a result, our operating results may be adversely affected by severe or unexpected weather conditions. Frequent or unusually heavy snow, ice or rain storms; natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, fires, and hurricanes; or extended periods of unseasonable temperatures could adversely affect our performance by affecting consumer shopping patterns and diminishing demand for seasonal merchandise. In addition, these events could cause physical damage to our properties or impact our supply chain, making it difficult or impossible to timely deliver seasonally appropriate merchandise. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, our mitigation strategies may be inadequate to address such a major disruption event.

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We may be unable to successfully execute an omnichannel strategy.

Customer expectations about the methods by which they purchase and receive products or services are evolving. Customers are increasingly using technology and mobile devices to rapidly compare products and prices and to purchase products. Once products are purchased, customers are seeking alternate options for delivery of those products. We must continually anticipate and adapt to these changes in the purchasing process. Our ability to compete with other retailers and to meet our customer expectations may suffer if we are unable to provide relevant customer-facing technology and omnichannel experiences. Our ability to compete may also suffer if Kohl’s, our suppliers, or our third-party shipping and delivery vendors are unable to effectively and efficiently fulfill and deliver orders, especially during the holiday season when sales volumes are especially high. Consequently, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our business is seasonal in nature, which could negatively affect our sales, revenues, operating results, and cash requirements.

Our business is subject to seasonal influences, with a major portion of sales and income historically realized during the second half of the fiscal year, which includes the back-to-school and holiday seasons.

If we do not adequately stock or restock popular products, particularly during the back-to-school and holiday seasons, we may fail to meet customer demand, which could affect our revenue and our future growth. If we overstock products, we may be required to take significant inventory markdowns or write-offs, which could reduce profitability.

We may experience an increase in costs associated with shipping digital orders due to complimentary upgrades, split shipments, and additional long-zone shipments necessary to ensure timely delivery for the holiday season. If too many customers access our website within a short period of time, we may experience system interruptions that make our website unavailable or prevent us from efficiently fulfilling orders, which may reduce the volume of goods we sell and the attractiveness of our products and services. Also, third-party delivery and direct ship vendors may be unable to deliver merchandise on a timely basis.

This seasonality causes our operating results and cash needs to vary considerably from quarter to quarter. Additionally, any decrease in sales or profitability during the second half of the fiscal year could have a disproportionately adverse effect on our results of operations.

Changes in credit card operations could adversely affect our sales, revenues, and/or profitability.

Our credit card operations facilitate merchandise sales and generate additional revenue from fees related to extending credit. The proprietary Kohl's credit card accounts are owned by an unrelated third-party, but we share in the net risk-adjusted revenue of the portfolio, which is defined as the sum of finance charges, late fees, and other revenue less write-offs of uncollectible accounts. Changes in funding costs related to interest rate fluctuations are shared similar to the revenue when interest rates exceed defined amounts. Though management currently believes that increases in funding costs will be largely offset by increases in finance charge revenue, increases in funding costs could adversely impact the profitability of this program.

Changes in credit card use and applications, payment patterns, credit fraud, and default rates may also result from a variety of economic, legal, social, and other factors that we cannot control or predict with certainty. Changes that adversely impact our ability to extend credit and collect payments could negatively affect our results.

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We may be unable to attract, develop, and retain quality associates while controlling costs, which could adversely affect our operating results.

Our performance is dependent on attracting and retaining a large number of quality associates, including our senior management team and other key associates. Many associates are in entry-level or part-time positions with historically high rates of turnover. Many of our strategic initiatives require that we hire and/or develop associates with appropriate experience. Our staffing needs are especially high during the holiday season. Competition for these associates is intense. We cannot be sure that we will be able to attract and retain a sufficient number of qualified personnel in future periods.

Our ability to meet our labor needs while controlling costs is subject to external factors such as unemployment levels, prevailing wage rates, minimum wage legislation, actions by our competitors in compensation levels, potential labor organizing efforts, and changing demographics. Competitive and regulatory pressures have already significantly increased our labor costs. Further changes that adversely impact our ability to attract and retain quality associates could adversely affect our performance and/or profitability. In addition, changes in federal, state, or local laws, rules, or regulations relating to employee benefits, including, but not limited to, sick time, paid time off, leave of absence, wage-and-hour, overtime, meal-and-break time, and joint/co-employment could cause us to incur additional costs, which could negatively impact our profitability.

Capital Risks

We may be unable to raise additional capital or maintain bank credit on favorable terms, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

We have historically relied on the public debt markets to raise capital to partially fund our operations and growth. We have also historically maintained lines of credit with financial institutions. Changes in the credit and capital markets, including market disruptions, limited liquidity, and interest rate fluctuations may increase the cost of financing or restrict our access to these potential sources of future liquidity. Our continued access to these liquidity sources on favorable terms depends on multiple factors, including our operating performance and maintaining strong credit ratings. If our credit ratings fall below desirable levels, our ability to access the debt markets and our cost of funds for new debt issuances could be adversely impacted. Additionally, if unfavorable capital market conditions exist if and when we were to seek additional financing, we may not be able to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms and on a timely basis (if at all). If our access to capital was to become significantly constrained or our cost of capital was to increase significantly, our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be adversely affected.

Our capital allocation could be inefficient or ineffective.

Our goal is to invest capital to maximize our overall long-term returns. This includes spending on inventory, capital projects and expenses, managing debt levels, and periodically returning value to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. To a large degree, capital efficiency reflects how well we manage our other key risks. The actions taken to address other specific risks may affect how well we manage the more general risk of capital efficiency. If we do not properly allocate our capital to maximize returns, we may fail to produce optimal financial results, and we may experience a reduction in shareholder value.

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Legal and Regulatory Risks

Regulatory and legal matters could adversely affect our business operations and change financial performance.

Various aspects of our operations are subject to federal, state or local laws, rules and regulations, any of which may change from time to time. The costs and other effects of new or changed legal requirements cannot be determined with certainty. For example, new legislation or regulations may result in increased costs directly for our compliance or indirectly to the extent such requirements increase prices of goods and services, reduce the availability of raw materials, or further restrict our ability to extend credit to our customers.

We continually monitor the legal and regulatory environments for developments that may impact us. Failure to detect changes and comply with such laws and regulations may result in an erosion of our reputation, disruption of business, and/or loss of associate morale. Additionally, we are regularly involved in various litigation matters that arise out of the conduct of our business. Litigation or regulatory developments could adversely affect our business operations and financial performance.

Our efforts to protect the privacy and security of sensitive or confidential customer, associate, or company information could be unsuccessful, which could severely damage our reputation, expose us to risks of litigation and liability, disrupt our operations, and harm our business.

As part of our normal course of business, we collect, retain, process, and transmit sensitive and confidential customer, associate, and company information. We also engage third-party vendors that provide technology, systems, and services to facilitate our collection, retention, processing, and transmission of this information. The protection of this data is extremely important to us, our associates, and our customers. However, no security is perfect, and it is possible that our facilities and systems and those of our third-party vendors are vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, security breaches, system failures, acts of vandalism, fraud, misappropriation, malware, ransomware, and other malicious or harmful code, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors, insider threats, or other similar events. Despite our substantial investments in personnel, training and implementation of programs, procedures, and plans to protect the security, confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our information and to prevent, detect, contain, and respond to cybersecurity threats, there is no assurance that these measures will prevent all cybersecurity threats, particularly given the ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated methods of cyber-attack that may be difficult or impossible to anticipate and/or detect. Kohl’s and its third party consultants audit and test our security program. Any such data security incident involving the breach, misappropriation, loss, or other unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and/or confidential information, whether by us or our vendors, could disrupt our operations, damage our reputation and customers' willingness to shop in our stores or on our website, violate applicable laws, regulations, orders and agreements, and subject us to additional costs and liabilities which could be material. In addition, data privacy and cybersecurity laws are in a period of change, including the new California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), and there is potential for the enactment of other federal or state privacy laws relevant to our business. These legal changes may increase our compliance costs, impact our customers’ shopping experience, reduce our business efficiency, and subject us to additional regulatory scrutiny or data breach litigation.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 2. Properties

Stores

As of February 1, 2020, we operated 1,159 Kohl's stores with 82.2 million selling square feet in 49 states. We also operated 12 FILA outlets.

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Our typical store lease has an initial term of 20-25 years and four to eight five-year renewal options. Substantially all of our leases provide for a minimum annual rent that is fixed or adjusts to set levels during the lease term, including renewals. Some of our store leases provide for additional rent based on a percentage of sales over designated levels.

The following tables summarize key information about our Kohl's stores as of February 1, 2020:

 

 

 

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Distribution Centers

The following table summarizes key information about each of our distribution centers:

 

 

We own all of the distribution centers except Corsicana, Texas, which is leased.

Corporate Facilities

We own our corporate headquarters in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. We also own or lease additional buildings and office space, which are used by various corporate departments, including our credit operations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings but are subject to certain legal proceedings and claims from time to time that arise out of the conduct of our business.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Item 4A. Information about our Executive Officers

Our executive officers as of February 1, 2020 were as follows:

 

 

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Michelle Gass

Ms. Gass has served as our Chief Executive Officer and as a director since May 2018. Ms. Gass was promoted to CEO-elect in October 2017. She joined the Company in 2013 as Chief Customer Officer and was named Chief Merchandising and Customer Officer in June 2015. Prior to Kohl’s, Ms. Gass spent more than 16 years with Starbucks Corporation holding a variety of leadership roles across marketing, global strategy and merchandising, including President, Starbucks Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to Starbucks, Ms. Gass was with Procter and Gamble. Ms. Gass has over 25 years of experience in the retail and consumer goods industries. She is currently a director for PepsiCo Inc., a global food and beverage company. From April 2014 to February 2017, Ms. Gass also served as a director of Cigna Corporation, a global health service company.

Douglas Howe

Mr. Howe has served as Chief Merchandising Officer since May 2018. Prior to joining the Company, he served in several senior leadership roles with Qurate Retail Group, leading QVC’s and HSN’s product leadership as Chief Merchandising Officer from December 2017 to April 2018, Executive Vice President of Merchandising from July 2015 to December 2017, Executive Vice President of Merchandising and Planning from 2010 to July 2015, and Executive Vice President of Strategic Multichannel Planning and Merchandising from 2008 to 2010. Prior to joining QVC in 2001 as Vice President of Merchandising, Fashion and Beauty, Mr. Howe previously served as Executive Vice President of Product Design and Development for Old Navy, as well as Senior Vice President of Strategy, Design and Development for Walmart. Mr. Howe has over 25 years of experience in the retail industry.

Jill Timm

Ms. Timm has served as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since November 2019.  She served as Executive Vice President, Finance from April 2018 to November 2019.  She served as Senior Vice President, Finance from 2012 to April 2018, Vice President, Finance from 2008 to 2012, Vice President – Financial Planning and Analysis from 2006 to 2008, Director, Financial Reporting from 2004 to 2006, Senior Finance Manager, Financial Reporting from 2003 to 2004, and Finance Manager, Financial Reporting from 2001 to 2003.  Ms. Timm joined the Company as a Senior Analyst in 1999.  Prior to that, she served as Senior Auditor at Arthur Anderson LLP from 1995 to 1999.  Ms. Timm has 20 years of experience in the retail industry.

Marc Chini

Mr. Chini has served as Senior Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer since November 2018. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer of Synchrony Financial from 2013 to November 2018. Previously, Mr. Chini worked for General Electric Company for more than 30 years, including serving as Vice President of Human Resources GE Corporate Staff (2011-2013), Executive Vice President of Human Resources for NBC Universal (2007-2011), Vice President of Human Resources for GE Infrastructure (2005-2006), GE Aviation & Locomotive (2003-2005), and GE Aviation (1998-2003). Prior to beginning his Human Resources career with General Electric in 1984, Mr. Chini served in various Human Resources roles for McGraw-Edison and Liberty Life. Mr. Chini has more than 25 years of Human Resources experience.

 

Paul Gaffney

Mr. Gaffney has served as Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer since September 2019. Prior to Kohl's, Mr. Gaffney served in a number of technology leadership roles, including Chief Technology Officer of Dick’s Sporting Goods from 2017 to September 2019, and Senior Vice President of Information Technology at The Home Depot from 2014 to November 2017. Mr. Gaffney also held the role of President and CEO at Keeps Inc. (Jan 2014 - Aug 2014), AAA of Northern California, Nevada & Utah (2009-2013), and Desktone, Inc. (2006-2009). Mr. Gaffney has more than 25 years of technology experience. 

 

 

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Greg Revelle

Mr. Revelle has served as Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer since April 2018. He joined the Company in April 2017 as Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer & General Manager of Financial Services for Best Buy Co., Inc. from November 2014 to March 2017 and Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer & General Manager of E-Commerce at AutoNation from 2012 to November 2014. Prior to that, he worked at Expedia, Inc. as Vice President & General Manager, Worldwide Online Marketing from 2009 to 2012 and Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy from 2005 to 2009. Before Expedia, Mr. Revelle worked at Credit Suisse as an Investment Banking Analyst. Mr. Revelle has ten years of experience in the online marketing and retail industries. He is currently a director of Cars.com, a digital automotive platform.

 

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market information

Our Common Stock has been traded on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") since May 19, 1992, under the symbol “KSS.”

On February 26, 2020, our Board of Directors approved a 5% increase in our dividend to $0.704 per common share. The dividend will be paid on April 1, 2020 to shareholders of record as of March 18, 2020. In 2019, we paid aggregate cash dividends of $423 million.

Holders

As of March 11, 2020, there were approximately 3,600 record holders of our Common Stock.

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Performance Graph

The graph below compares our cumulative five-year shareholder return to that of the Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) 500 Index and a Peer Group Index that is consistent with the retail peer groups used in the Compensation Discussion & Analysis section of our Proxy Statement for our May 13, 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Peer Group Index was calculated by S&P Global, a Standard & Poor’s business and includes Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc.; The Gap, Inc.; J.C. Penney Company, Inc.; L Brands, Inc.; Macy’s, Inc.; Nordstrom, Inc.; Ross Stores, Inc.; Target Corporation; and The TJX Companies, Inc. The Peer Group Index is weighted by the market capitalization of each component company at the beginning of each period. The graph assumes an investment of $100 on January 31, 2015 and reinvestment of dividends. The calculations exclude trading commissions and taxes.

 

 

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities

We did not sell any equity securities from 2017 through 2019 that were not registered under the Securities Act except as otherwise disclosed in our current Report on Form 8-K dated April 23, 2019.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

In 2016, our Board of Directors increased the remaining share repurchase authorization under our existing share repurchase program to $2.0 billion. Purchases under the repurchase program may be made in the open market, through block trades and other negotiated transactions. We expect to execute the share repurchase program primarily in open market transactions, subject to market conditions. There is no fixed termination date for the repurchase program, and the program may be suspended, discontinued or accelerated at any time.

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The following table contains information for shares repurchased and shares acquired from employees in lieu of amounts required to satisfy minimum tax withholding requirements upon the vesting of the employees’ restricted stock during the three fiscal months ended February 1, 2020:

 

 

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Item 6. Selected Consolidated Financial Data

The selected consolidated financial data presented below should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this document.

 

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Executive Summary

As of February 1, 2020, we operated 1,159 Kohl's stores, a website (www.Kohls.com), and 12 FILA outlets. Our Kohl's stores and website sell moderately-priced private and national brand apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty, and home products. Our Kohl's stores generally carry a consistent merchandise assortment with some differences attributable to local preferences. Our website includes merchandise which is available in our stores, as well as merchandise that is available only online.

Key financial results for 2019 included:

See "Results of Operations" and "Liquidity and Capital Resources" for additional details about our financial results, how we define comparable sales, and a reconciliation of GAAP to Adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share.

 

Results of Operations

Net Sales

Net sales includes revenue from the sale of merchandise, net of expected returns and shipping revenue.

Comparable sales is a measure that highlights the performance of our stores and digital channel by measuring the change in sales for a period over the comparable, prior-year period of equivalent length. Comparable sales includes all store and digital sales, except sales from stores open less than 12 months, stores that have been closed, and stores where square footage has changed by more than 10%. We measure the change in digital sales by including all sales initiated online or through mobile applications, including omnichannel transactions which are fulfilled through our stores.

We measure digital penetration as digital sales over net sales. These amounts do not take into consideration fulfillment node, digital returns processed in stores, and coupon behaviors.

Comparable sales is a meaningful metric in evaluating our performance of ongoing operations period over period. Comparable sales and digital penetration measures vary across the retail industry. As a result, our comparable sales calculation and digital penetration are non-GAAP measures that may not be consistent with the similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

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The following graph summarizes net sales dollars and comparable sales (Dollars in Millions):

2019 compared to 2018

Net sales decreased $282 million, or 1.5% to $18.9 billion for 2019.

2018 compared to 2017

Net sales increased $131 million, or 0.7%, to $19.2 billion for 2018.

Other Revenue

Other revenue includes revenue from credit card operations, third-party advertising on our website, unused gift cards and merchandise return cards (breakage), and other non-merchandise revenue.

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The following graph summarizes other revenue (Dollars in Millions):

Other revenue increased $27 million in 2019 and $14 million in 2018. The increase in 2019 was due to higher credit card revenue.  The increase in 2018 was due to higher credit card revenue, third-party advertising on our website, and breakage.

Cost of Merchandise Sold and Gross Margin

Cost of merchandise sold includes the total cost of products sold, including product development costs, net of vendor payments other than reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs; inventory shrink; markdowns; freight expenses associated with moving merchandise from our vendors to our distribution centers; shipping expenses for digital sales; terms cash discount; and depreciation of product development facilities and equipment. Our cost of merchandise sold may not be comparable with that of other retailers because we include distribution center and buying costs in selling, general and administrative expenses while other retailers may include these expenses in cost of merchandise sold.

The following graph summarizes cost of merchandise sold and gross margin as a percent of net sales (Dollars in Millions):

 

Gross margin is calculated as net sales less cost of merchandise sold. Gross margin as a percent of net sales decreased 64 basis points in 2019 and increased 32 basis points in 2018. The decrease in 2019 was driven by higher shipping costs resulting from digital growth, an increase in promotional markdowns, and mix of business. The increase in 2018 was driven by effective inventory management that contributed to fewer permanent and promotional markdowns, partially offset by higher shipping costs resulting from digital growth.

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Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses

SG&A includes compensation and benefit costs (including stores, corporate headquarters, buying and merchandising, and distribution centers); occupancy and operating costs of our retail, distribution and corporate facilities; freight expenses associated with moving merchandise from our distribution centers to our retail stores and among distribution and retail facilities; marketing expenses, offset by vendor payments for reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs; expenses related to our credit card operations; and other administrative revenues and expenses. We do not include depreciation and amortization in SG&A. The classification of these expenses varies across the retail industry.

Many of our expenses, including store payroll and distribution costs, are variable in nature. These costs generally increase as sales increase, and decrease as sales decrease. We measure both the change in these variable expenses and the expense as a percent of revenue. If the expense as a percent of revenue decreased from the prior year, the expense "leveraged". If the expense as a percent of revenue increased over the prior year, the expense "deleveraged".

The following graph summarizes the increases and (decreases) in SG&A by expense type (Dollars in Millions) between 2018 and 2019:

 

SG&A increased $104 million, or 1.9%, to $5.7 billion for 2019. As a percentage of revenue, SG&A deleveraged by 88 basis points.

The increase in store expenses reflects higher rent expense, primarily due to the new lease accounting standard, costs related to brand launches, the Amazon Returns program, and wage pressure. Distribution costs, which exclude payroll related to online originated orders that were shipped from our stores, were $350 million for 2019. This increased $38 million due to higher transportation and payroll costs at our E-Commerce fulfillment centers driven by growth in digital sales. Marketing costs reflect higher digital and broadcast spend. Technology costs increased as we continue to invest in our business. Expenses from our credit card operations decreased due to savings in payroll and operating costs. Corporate and other expenses decreased due to lower general corporate costs and incentives.

 

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The following graph summarizes the increases and (decreases) in SG&A by expense type (Dollars in Millions) between 2017 and 2018:

SG&A increased $100 million, or 1.8%, to $5.6 billion for 2018. The increase was net of approximately $40 million of incremental expense in 2017 due to the 53^rd week in the fiscal 2017 calendar. As a percentage of revenue, SG&A deleveraged by 30 basis points.

The increase in technology expenses reflects higher spend as we migrate technology systems to the cloud. Leadership changes drove the increase in corporate expenses. Distribution costs, which exclude payroll related to online originated orders that were shipped from our stores, were $312 million for 2018 and increased $9 million due to higher transportation costs. Marketing costs reflect higher digital and personalization spend. In our stores, increases in expenses driven by omnichannel support of ship-from-store and buy online, pick-up in store operations were offset by productivity improvements. Expenses from our credit card operations decreased due to savings in payroll and operating costs.

Other Expenses

 

 

The changes in depreciation and amortization reflect the net impact of lower depreciation due to the maturing of our stores and the impact of the new lease accounting standard in 2019, offset by higher amortization due to investments in technology, higher depreciation from our fifth E-Commerce fulfillment center which opened in 2017, and a $22 million write-off in 2017 of information technology projects that no longer fit into our strategic and cloud migration plans.

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Impairments, store closing, and other costs in 2019 include $52 million of asset impairment charges related to the closure of four Kohl’s stores and four Off-Aisle clearance centers, $30 million in severance, which includes our corporate restructuring effort along with the execution of a voluntary role reduction program, $10 million related to brand exits, and a $21 million impairment related to technology projects that no longer align with our strategic plans. Impairments, store closing, and other costs in 2018 included the following expenses related to closing four stores, consolidating call center locations which supported both Kohl’s charge and online customers, a voluntary retirement program, and the impairment of certain assets:

 

 

Interest expense, net decreased in 2019 due primarily to the benefits of debt reductions in 2018 and adoption of the new lease accounting standard in the first quarter of 2019. The decrease in interest expense in 2018 was driven by the benefits of debt reductions in 2018. Higher interest income due to higher yields and investment balances and lower interest on finance leases as the portfolio matures also contributed to the decrease in 2018.

Gain on extinguishment of debt of $9 million in 2019 resulted from the purchase of leased equipment that was accounted for as a financing obligation. Loss on the extinguishment of debt of $63 million in 2018 resulted from a $413 million make-whole call and a $500 million cash tender offer in 2018.

Income Taxes

 

 

Our effective tax rates in 2019 and 2018 include the full year benefit of the decrease in the corporate rate. For 2017, the reduction in the tax rate was prorated, resulting in a statutory federal tax rate of 33.7%. In 2017, we recorded a total tax benefit of $136 million related to the federal tax rate reduction and the re-measurement of our deferred tax assets and liabilities as well as a $20 million benefit from the settlement of a significant state tax dispute. These items reduced our 2017 effective tax rate by 10.9 percentage points.

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Adjusted Net Income and Earnings per Diluted Share