Kohl's has appointed Arianne Parisi as Chief Customer Officer, with the company's Chief Marketing Officer set to depart, according to a Retail TouchPoints report.

The dual change reorganizes customer-facing leadership at the U.S. department-store chain. The CCO title widens the remit beyond a traditional CMO seat, taking in the broader customer relationship.

What Kohl's announced

• Arianne Parisi has been named Chief Customer Officer.
• The current Chief Marketing Officer will leave the company.
• The announcement ran through Retail TouchPoints, a trade publication covering retail technology and customer experience.

What the announcement does not say

• The name of the departing CMO.
• The effective date of either change.
• Parisi's prior role inside the company.
• The reporting structure under Parisi.
• Whether the CMO position will be backfilled.

What does a CCO move typically mean at a retailer?

The Chief Customer Officer title has spread across U.S. retail over the past decade. The role usually owns customer data, loyalty, CRM, and customer-experience functions. In some companies, the CCO absorbs marketing. In others, marketing and customer experience sit as parallel functions under separate executives.

The distinction matters operationally. A CCO who absorbs the CMO seat represents a reorganization. A CCO who sits alongside a future CMO represents a layering of leadership. The scope of Parisi's role will determine which path Kohl's has taken.

What does the move tell marketing leaders?

For marketing leadership readers, the appointment raises four operational questions:

• Will the CCO role absorb marketing or sit alongside a successor CMO?
• Which KPIs will the role own — CAC, LTV, retention, NPS?
• How does the role interact with stores, digital, and loyalty teams?
• What is the reporting line for marketing under the new structure?

The answers will determine whether the change is a title swap or a real reorganization of the customer organization.

The CCO framing also shifts budget conversations. Customer-led structures typically pull spend from top-of-funnel brand advertising toward retention, loyalty, and CRM. Marketing leaders inside the affected organization should expect budget reallocation conversations to follow the appointment.

What should readers watch next?

Marketers tracking the move should watch for three follow-up signals:

• The scope of Parisi's new role.
• The backfill decision on the CMO seat.
• Any change in agency or partner relationships accompanying the transition.

The CMO departure, paired with the CCO appointment, signals a leadership structure organized around the customer rather than the campaign. That framing aligns with industry direction across retail, where customer lifetime value, loyalty economics, and CRM have moved to the front of the executive agenda.

For now, the announcement leaves more questions than answers. The next disclosure from Kohl's will clarify whether this is a title change or a structural reorganization of the marketing and customer organization.