Macy’s Midtown Manhattan

Macy’s flagship store in Midtown Manhattan. Executives trimmed some merchandise orders early in the year after credit-card data revealed cracks in shopping trends.PHOTO: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG NEWS

“We thought there was going to be a stronger recovery into 2022 and we wanted to be positioned for that,” said Jill Timm, the finance chief at Kohl’s. 

Kohl’s placed large orders earlier in the buying cycle for 2022 after missing out on about $250 million in sales in 2021 because it didn’t have enough merchandise due to temporary factory shutdowns and shipping delays that slowed the arrival of winter goods. Some of those goods made it to stores and warehouses this year, just as consumers started to curtail their purchases.