Kohl's, WW Partner to Support Wellness and Healthy Living

Kohl’s announced a strategic collaboration with WW — the new Weight Watchers, a global wellness company — to bring together both companies’ shared passion to empower families and communities to live healthier lives. Kohl’s and WW will pilot several health and wellness offerings throughout 2019 to help customers and Kohl’s associates on their wellness journeys, including the debut of the first in-store WW Studio, a pilot community space inside a Kohl’s store in Chicago, to host WW Wellness Workshops for local WW members, as well as a specially curated WW space for Kohl’s customers and associates. The collaboration also includes the  introduction of WW Healthy Kitchen products in select stores and online beginning in June 2019. Finally, the collaboration will enable Kohl’s associates access to subsidized WW Freestyle program memberships. "As a destination for active and wellness for the entire family, we continue to seek out new ideas that support our customers’ health goals," Kohl's CEO Michelle Gass said.

Total Retail's Take: Unique brand collaborations such as this is one way Kohl's hopes to differentiate itself from the competition. After all, department store chains Macy's and J.C. Penney reported disappointing holiday sales results, and the futures of Sears and Bon-Ton are very much in doubt. Bottom line: there's market share to be had. The collaboration with WW isn't the first time Kohl's has used exclusive brand partnerships as an enticement to drive consumers into its stores. In 2017,  for example, Kohl's signed a deal with Amazon to accept Amazon returns in its stores, as well as sell some of its Alexa-enabled devices. Last year, Kohl's began partnering with grocery and convenience stores to lease unused space in the roughly 300 stores it has "right-sized" over the past several years. Kohl's has also hinted at working with fitness gyms, according to CNBC.