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Kohl’s AI shopping assistant asks about shoppers’ needs, recommends products and lets them add items to a cart within the chat. CEO Michael Bender said adoption remains small, though users show stronger conversion and higher revenue per visit; the holiday quarter will test whether those results extend to more shoppers.
Kohl’s is taking its AI shopping assistant into the holiday season after CEO Michael Bender told analysts that early users show stronger conversion and higher revenue per visit than other shoppers. The retailer has not disclosed how many customers use the tool or the size of the difference, leaving the holiday quarter as a test of whether those early results can extend to more shoppers.
The assistant began as a Gift Finder launched for Mother’s Day in April. It asks shoppers about a recipient’s interests, hobbies and style, then recommends products that customers can browse and add to a cart without leaving the chat. Customers can also upload photos to search for similar items, according to the product description.
In July, Kohl’s expanded the feature into a broader shopping assistant on Kohls.com and its app. It can respond to requests such as finding current deals, compare products and search using images. The assistant can also guide shoppers through store pickup and discount codes, bringing product discovery and parts of the purchase process into one interaction.
Kohl’s built the assistant using Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, the same platform used for an internal analytics agent for store associates, Kyle Luchinski, Kohl’s director of enterprise data platform, analytics and AI enablement, said in a Google Cloud case study. “By bringing discovery and purchase together, customers can shop frictionlessly,” Luchinski said. That is the company’s stated aim; the available figures do not establish how much the assistant has changed overall sales.
Retail AI · Holiday 2026
How Kohl’s Is Using Its AI Gift Finder This Holiday Season
Kohl’s shopping assistant connects gift discovery with product recommendations and cart actions. Early users reportedly convert better, but adoption remains small—and the holiday quarter will test whether the results can scale.
01 / What it does
From gift question to cart
The experience is designed to reduce the work between knowing who to shop for and finding a product worth buying.
Personalized discovery
Start with the recipient
Shoppers describe interests, hobbies, style, or other needs. The assistant uses those details to suggest products.
Search & compare
Explore in conversation
Customers can compare items, look for current deals, and upload a photo to find similar products.
Purchase support
Keep moving toward checkout
Shoppers can add recommendations to a cart in chat and get guidance on store pickup and discount codes.
Recipient, interests, budget, or style.
Relevant products and deal discovery.
Browse items or search from an image.
Act on a recommendation in the chat.
02 / Retail context
Discovery is part of the conversion challenge
Kohl’s said digital sales were flat for 2025 as lower conversion offset higher traffic. CFO Jill Timm identified inventory availability and product findability as areas to address.
The assistant may help shoppers locate products, but Kohl’s has not said it caused the latest increase in digital sales. Quarterly results reflect the broader business.
What the company says
“By bringing discovery and purchase together, customers can shop frictionlessly.”
Kyle Luchinski · Kohl’s AI enablement leaderSurvey findings reported by PYMNTS Intelligence. They describe consumer responses, not behavior on Kohl’s platforms.
03 / Evidence & limits
Promising user results, unknown scale
The company has reported an advantage among users, but has not published the data needed to judge its reach or cause.
“Adoption is still small, but customers who engage with our AI shopping assistant are showing stronger conversion and higher revenue per visit.”
Michael Bender · Kohl’s CEONot disclosed
How many customers use the assistant, or how often they return.
Not quantified
The conversion and revenue-per-visit difference versus other shoppers.
Not attributed
How much of digital sales performance came from the assistant rather than other factors.
04 / The holiday test
Can early lift reach more shoppers?
The expanded assistant enters its first full holiday season. Gift searches and deal hunting create a useful test of whether shoppers adopt it at greater scale.
The story so far · Traceable timeline
Quick answers
What shoppers should know
What can the assistant do?
It recommends products based on shopper needs, supports product comparisons and image search, and lets customers add items to a cart in chat.
When did it launch?
The Gift Finder launched in April 2026 for Mother’s Day. Kohl’s broadened it into a shopping assistant on its website and app in July.
How many people use it?
Kohl’s has not disclosed a user count or comparative conversion rate. Bender said adoption remains small.
Holiday Shopping Tests AI Conversion
The tool targets a common gift-shopping problem: shoppers may know who they are buying for and their budget but need help choosing a product. A conversational assistant could shorten the path from a broad request to a purchasable item, particularly when customers want to compare prices, find a deal or narrow options by interests.
That has business relevance for Kohl’s because conversion has been a challenge for its digital business. Chief Financial Officer Jill Timm said in March that digital sales were flat for 2025, as lower conversion offset higher traffic. She pointed to inventory availability and findability as areas to address. The assistant is one effort to improve how shoppers locate products, but Kohl’s has not said that it caused the latest digital-sales increase.
Consumer research cited by PYMNTS Intelligence suggests price and discovery are relevant to online shopping behavior. In a survey report based on responses from 2,061 U.S. consumers and 60 retail merchants through August, 46% of consumers who used AI for shopping said they used it to find the best price or deal. Another 53% said a lower price could persuade them to leave a large marketplace for a brand’s own site. Those figures describe reported preferences, not necessarily behavior on Kohl’s platforms.
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From Gift Finder to Assistant
Kohl’s has experimented with AI-assisted gifting before. In December 2023, it launched Storybook Magic, a tool that created a personalized holiday poem around a gift recommendation, PYMNTS reported. The 2026 Gift Finder takes a more direct shopping approach: it asks about the recipient and connects suggestions to products that can be added to a cart.
Other retailers have also tried AI-based gift recommendations. Target introduced an AI holiday gift finder last November, using a recipient’s age and interests to produce suggestions, Retail Dive reported. The broader retail backdrop is also changing: the PYMNTS Intelligence report said about 132 million people had made a retail purchase with AI assistance, and 22% of consumers now start online research in an AI tool. These are report findings, not measures of Kohl’s assistant use.
Kohl’s reported digital sales rose 2.8% in its second quarter and represented 27% of net sales, compared with 26% a year earlier. Bender discussed the assistant’s early performance on the company’s Aug. 26 earnings call, as reported by Digital Commerce 360. The figures show digital sales growth during the quarter, but do not isolate the assistant’s effect.
““Adoption is still small, but customers who engage with our AI shopping assistant are showing stronger conversion and higher revenue per visit.””
— Michael Bender, Kohl’s CEO
Adoption and Lift Remain Undisclosed
Kohl’s has not reported how many shoppers have used the assistant, how often they return to it or how much stronger their conversion is compared with the site average. Bender’s comments establish that the company sees better outcomes among users, but without the underlying figures it is not possible to assess the scale of that difference or whether it applies across customer groups.
The company also has not separated the assistant’s contribution from other factors affecting digital sales, such as inventory availability, promotions and changes in shopping traffic. The reported 2.8% increase in quarterly digital sales is a companywide result, not a measure of sales attributed to the AI tool. It remains unclear whether holiday shoppers will use the assistant at a materially higher rate than early users did.
Consumer survey findings offer a broader indication of interest in AI shopping, but they do not show that respondents used Kohl’s tool or completed purchases through it. The available information does not provide a forecast for the assistant’s holiday impact or a target for adoption.
Holiday Quarter Will Test Scale
The next milestone is the holiday quarter, the first full holiday season for the expanded assistant. Kohl’s will be able to see whether the tool draws more shoppers during a period when gift discovery and deal searches are especially relevant. The company has not announced a specific date for new results or said whether it will publish detailed adoption and conversion figures.
Investors and shoppers will be watching whether the assistant’s early reported advantage holds as usage grows. Useful measures would include the number of customers engaging with it, how those customers convert compared with other digital shoppers, and whether any gains persist beyond the holiday period. Until Kohl’s provides those details, the confirmed picture remains limited: adoption is small, the company reports stronger engagement outcomes among users, and the scale and cause of any broader sales effect are still unknown.
Source: rss
Key Questions
What does Kohl’s AI shopping assistant do?
It asks about a shopper’s needs, such as a gift recipient’s interests and style, and recommends products. Customers can compare items, search with an uploaded image and add products to a cart within the chat.
When did Kohl’s launch the Gift Finder?
Kohl’s launched the Gift Finder for Mother’s Day in April 2026, then expanded it into a broader shopping assistant on its website and app in July.
Has Kohl’s said how many customers use the assistant?
No. CEO Michael Bender said adoption was still small, but Kohl’s has not disclosed the number of users or the assistant’s conversion rate compared with the rest of the site.
Did the assistant cause Kohl’s digital sales to rise?
Kohl’s reported that second-quarter digital sales rose 2.8% and made up 27% of net sales, but it has not attributed that increase to the assistant.
Why is the holiday quarter important for the tool?
It is the first full holiday season for the expanded assistant and will test whether the early results Kohl’s reported can extend to a larger group of shoppers. The company has not provided a target for usage or sales impact.
Source: rss
