Kohl's Online - Save. A Lot.

Full Review
Pro: Arrived when stated, yay coupons, great savings (and pretty boxes!)

Con: Can’t stack coupons (but there are ways around this), finding the right time to purchase

The Bottom Line: If you can choose the right time to shop, you can save a great deal of money and even earn some extra goodies in the process.

Kohl’s always has sales.  Truth is, there’s rarely a time (if ever) that you’ll find something at it’s original price.  I used to work there, so trust me, I know.  And Black Friday savings (by the way) are often exactly the same as say, oh, the sales the week before (it was this year – actually I think the week before sales were better, and some of the offers the week after).  That’s actually the trickiest part of shopping at Kohl’s – hitting the store at just the right time to make the most of your shopping trip.  Looking at it now, I should have shopped this week because not only was shipping free, but I could have earned Kohl’s cash (which is basically the same as gift card goodness).

Finding What You Want

As with most sites, you can surf using the top dropdown menus – Women’s, Women’s Jackets, etc. – and then narrow your search by price, color, brand, and so forth.  One of my hunts was for a cute red scarf.  Hunt made easy when I sorted them through color.  Instead of wading through dozens and dozens of scarves, I only had a handful to look at.  When examining jewelry, I knew which brand I wanted, so once I clicked their link, I had all their goodies at my fingertips.  From there it was just a matter of sorting through the different categories (glass beads, family charms, etc.) to find the items I wanted.  Easy as pie.

Checking Out

I went through most of this process multiple times without actually finishing it, but I did so on purpose.  I was uncertain on how much to spend, which items I really wanted with the money I had to work with, and other things.  Likewise, I discovered that my 20% coupon code wouldn’t work with others.  Basically, Kohl’s allows you two coupons, but if they say in their fine print (and I’m sure most of them do) that you can’t stack them, then no dice.  Kohl’s gives you free shipping with orders over $50, but if you have a coupon that drops your total below that, then get ready to pay.  That irritated me a little, but I see what they were doing, so whatever.

I ended up splitting my purchases into two orders so I could use a 20% coupon code on each order and still get the free shipping.  Boo-yah.  I did screw up at one point, but it was my own fault.  When putting in payment methods, I initially put in my Kohl’s charge card number.  It saved it automatically which I don’t know if I’m a big fan of, because later on I realized I should use my Master Card because I get points (which lead to more free stuff).  It remembered that too (except for the security code on the back, which makes me feel better).  In the end, I made my orders, but when I got my confirmation emails, in one of them I realized that I’d forgotten to change my payment method.  The Kohl’s card showed up first so that’s what got charged.  So instead of earning 100 points for my credit card, I ended up with only half that, which peeved me because you don’t get anything extra with the Kohl’s card.  Still, I should have paid attention.  Oh well.

Oh, and don’t forget to search the web for additional coupons.  I actually only had one coupon code from an email, but I found the second while searching for some online.  Yay.

Shipping

The estimate given to me by Kohl’s was on the dot.  I got my order within a week.  Both of them, I guess I should say.  Tucked away in neat little boxes.  I didn’t order a scarf, but I did order a lot of small jewelry pieces.  Each of them was packed away in their own little bag.  Two pieces came in really pretty silver glittered boxes with red ribbon on them.  I didn’t expect that at all.  I assume they come like that in the store, but I don’t remember seeing them like that when I was last in there (which was the day I actually went online to make my purchase.  Yeah, I work near a Kohl’s and I actually live near a Kohl’s, but I went online to buy.  I did that for two reasons – because of the two online coupons and because I save on taxes that way).

The Bonus Round

Kohl’s goodies are usually on sale.  If a bracelet is retail listed at $100, I doubt you will ever pay for it at that price.  Rather, expect it to be on sale by a lot.  Kind of makes one wonder about how much the bracelet really costs if they can discount it to $25 (which they do), but whatever.  As long as the quality is good, it’s still a good price.

The catch with shopping at Kohl’s online (and this can actually be said for the store too) is knowing just when you can get the best deal.  Like I said before, Black Friday was nothing special.  I bought my items the week before that and I think I got them either for the same price or better.  However, this week Kohl’s has free shipping no matter what the price, as well as Kohl’s cash.  I may have paid just a bit more if I’d done my shopping this week, but I wouldn’t have had to worry about shipping, I still could have used my coupons, and I would have earned $30 in Kohl’s Cash.  True, you have to spend your Kohl’s Cash in a specific time span, but if you like to shop there, I’m sure there’s something fun you can find (I know I’d be able to!).

Of course, there’s no real way to estimate when the best time may be, so depending upon when you need your goods and how long you’re willing to wait, you may pay a little more or a little less.  Generally though, the differences aren’t all that large.

Finish

Admittedly, this was my first time shopping at Kohl’s online, but because it was a positive experience, there’s a good chance that I’ll visit there again.  I’m still especially pleased with the pretty jewelry boxes.  I haven’t had the need to contact their customer service, so I can’t really speak to that.  However, if you need to, you can return items to the store.  I do intend to do that with one particular item because it wasn’t quite the right color, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Now all I have to do is hope that what I bought is a hit this Christmas!

NT