For you to be successful when doing retail arbitrage, profit is king – you need to be able to maximize what your customers pay for your products versus what you paid for them. This is where using a hidden clearance can be a useful way of building your inventory for as little money as possible.
Many retailers in the US offer a hidden clearance section, where products have two prices – a sticker price and an actual price, but only the sticker price is shown. To find this secret or “hidden” price, you have to look online or use an app. In this article we’re going to go through whether Kohl’s uses this method of discounting, and how you can go about picking up great deals to resell on Amazon.
Does Kohl’s have a hidden clearance section?
So, Kohl’s doesn’t do hidden clearance in the same way that Walmart does, where you need to use the app to get the discounted price. Kohl’s are pretty transparent with clearance items, and generally the price you see is the price you pay.
This doesn’t mean Kohl’s discounts aren’t competitive and there are even ways you can get an even bigger discount at Kohl’s than you could with another retailer’s ‘hidden discount’. Utilising these discounts is a great way to increase your profit margin when you come to resell on Amazon, and if you know where to look, you can more easily find the products that are going to bring you a higher profit margin when shopping at Kohl’s.
Where can I find the cheapest goods at Kohl’s?
As one of the largest department stores in the US, Kohl’s has an enormous product selection, so to ensure a regular turnover of stock, they will often offer discounts on products which they either haven’t sold as quickly as they wanted or for items they are discontinuing. It costs a large retailer like Kohl’s a lot of money to keep these items hanging around, especially if they aren’t selling at retail price. This presents a great arbitrage opportunity for you, because there are people out there on Amazon who will pay full price.
Generally, Kohl’s offers their discounts online, and using SourceMogul is a fantastic way to see these discounts as well as how much you can sell the item for on Amazon. However, some of the best bargains are in store, and we wouldn’t discourage you from going into your local Kohl’s to do some bargain hunting.
Kohl’s has a number of ways of discounting items, and here are a few things you should look out for when searching for your next arbitrage opportunity.
Kohl’s closeout deals
When Kohl’s are discontinuing an item and have a limited amount of stock available, they will often heavily discount these products and mark them as a Closeout deal. Closeout products can often have discounts of 60% or more and because these lines are being discontinued, they’re not limited to one product category.
There will often be a wide range of products available to purchase across many product categories including jewellery, electronics, homewares and clothing. The other thing to be aware of is that this range of deals is constantly changing as Kohl’s sell out and remove lines from their product selection, so it’s worth checking back frequently to find the best selection. These products will often be tagged up with a ‘Closeout deal’ tag when you look online.
Kohl’s online clearance
Many of the deepest discounted products can be found in Kohl’s online clearance section. These products have usually been included in the Closeout deal section and haven’t sold fast enough, so have now been marked down as clearance deals to sell through the remaining stock holding. There’s even the potential for these items to be marked down further if they aren’t moving as quickly as Kohl’s would like.
The Kohl’s Goldstar clearance
Every so often Kohl’s will drop the prices of some of their clearance items even further through their Goldstar Clearance or a separate ‘flash’ sale. During this time, they will reduce their prices and offer an extra 50% off clearance items. This could mean you get a discount of up to 85% off the usual retail price. As expected, the selection of products isn’t as big as some of the main Kohl’s clearance, but you can find discounts across many product categories including clothing, footwear and home décor.
Kohl’s coupon discounts
Kohl’s coupons are pretty extensive. Kohl’s will reward members with coupons for signing up to their emails, downloading their app or registering for notifications on your cell phone as well as getting the usual flyers in the mail. The great thing about a Kohl’s coupon code is that they will often let you stack different discounts together, including on Goldstar Clearance items. This means if you use the right coupons at the right time, you can get some products for well, well below retail value.
Kohl’s Cash
During certain promotional periods, Kohl’s will give you the opportunity to earn additional Kohl’s cash on purchases you make on sale or clearance items. Kohl’s cash works like store credit and rewards customers for increasing their spend at Kohl’s. It can be used against any future purchases you make online or at the store. You’ll usually get $10 for every $50 that you spend up to a limit of $1500. This can be very useful if you spot a big arbitrage opportunity and Kohl’s allows you to collect Kohl’s Cash, as this is up to $1500 you could put towards stock to arbitrage on Amazon at a later date.
Kohl’s seasonal sales
Throughout the year, Kohl’s holds several seasonal sales. During these clearance events, they will often add additional items to their clearance section as well as offering further discounts on existing clearance items which can be a great way to grab a bargain.
Kohl’s will usually hold a sale on Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as a post-Christmas sale. Be warned however, that this is the least reliable way of getting hold of products to arbitrage at Amazon from Kohl’s, as everyone knows about Black Friday and Cyber Monday for example and will be looking for a deal too.
What are the best products to purchase at Kohl’s for reselling on Amazon?
Being one of the largest retailers in the US, it’s inevitable that Kohl’s is going to have some stock lying around that they want to get rid of, and so it’s easy to find online deals that have had some hefty discounts applied. But just because something is deeply discounted, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the cheapest you’re going to find it on the market. It might just be the cheapest you’ll find it at Kohl’s.
Therefore, buying some things from Kohl’s can be more profitable than buying other things, and for those other things you might be better off looking at another retailer. There are a few things that Kohl’s tends to offer consistently good deals on based on our research, so let’s go through them.
Clothing – Kohl’s has an extensive range of clothing from casual wear to sports gear including clothing from some well-known brands such as Sonoma. Depending on the situation it’s possible to pick up clothing at heavily discounted rates, so it’s well worth keeping an eye on what’s available. For example, on the day we looked, SourceMogul picked up a pair of Men’s Sonoma cargo shorts for $19.99 which were being sold for $28 on Amazon.
Jewellery – Kohl’s is generally pretty good for picking up lower priced jewelry. On the day we looked, for example, you could have picked up a Stella Grace ruby and sapphire ring for $590, down from $1475 and going for around $800 on Amazon and eBay. This would even have given you $110 Kohl’s Cash to put towards another item to arbitrage.
Homewares – Kohl’s have built, this includes furnishings, bedding, home accessories and décor, pillows and cushions as well as quilts. Many of these items can be high value if resold at the right time, so it’s well worth seeing if you can find a bargain.
Cleaning appliances – There’s a great range of cleaning appliances such as vacuums that can be purchased from Kohl’s, most of the time at a discounted price.
Handbags – Kohl’s don’t stock a large selection of designer handbags, but what they do offer is a great selection of high quality, affordable and quite often leather, handbags. These are high value items that can often be sold below retail value, whilst still maintaining a healthy profit margin.
These categories are just some of the product types that are worth considering if you intend to resell goods on Amazon. Equally important though is what you should avoid. As we’ve already said, just because it’s on discount at Kohl’s doesn’t mean it’s the cheapest you’ll find it elsewhere. Kohl’s can be quite expensive for larger electrical appliances, toys, furniture and rugs among other things compared to some of their competitors, so it’s important to compare the prices of items, even if they are on discount.
You can find out more about the best products to start selling on Amazon in this guide.
Kohl’s Hidden Clearance FAQs
What day does Kohl’s mark down clearance?
Kohl’s puts items on sale or markdown every day. However, the days they seem to mark the most items down are the second and fourth Saturday of every month, so these are likely to be your most successful days for bargain-hunting.
Can I use expired Kohl’s Cash?
No. Kohl’s Cash that you’ve earned won’t be accepted before or after the redemption period. The expiry will be clearly listed either on the coupon itself or in your mobile wallet, and if you don’t use it by the expiry date you’ll lose it.
How often does Kohl’s have mystery offers?
Kohl’s usually releases a mystery coupon once per month. A Kohl’s mystery coupon is a special coupon that is valid for just one or two days after it’s been issued and entitles you to either 20, 30 or 40% off sitewide. The catch is that you don’t know when it’ll arrive, so you’ll need to be subscribed to their email list.
What are the benefits of using an online arbitrage platform like SourceMogul?
As we’ve mentioned, to make money selling on Amazon, you need to make sure you always know which retailers have the products you need for sale at the lowest price possible. But who’s got the time to look at all retailer’s websites and compare it to all the others every hour of the day? Nobody, and to be honest you’ve got better things to do.
This is where SourceMogul can help. Our platform is connected to some of the biggest retailers across the US, including Kohl’s, Walmart, Best Buy, Dollar Tree, and Target. It scans their inventories for millions of products every day to help find you the best deal possible on the market.
Our inbuilt analytics show you which products are most profitable based on real-time Amazon data allowing you to make the best decision about what product you should be selling and when. And as a bonus, unlike many other arbitrage platforms, SourceMogul doesn’t have a limit on the amount of products you can search for or the results you can see.
For even greater control over your profit margin SourceMogul even lets you add coupons, gift cards and sales tax against your chosen retailer so you can adjust your price and profit margins accordingly, helping you to stay ahead of your competition and maximize your profits. Sign up for our free trial now using the button below and start finding the products that are going to increase your profits today.
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