• by Sarah Mahoney , Yesterday

Kohl’s has dropped the “interim” tag, naming Michael J. Bender its new CEO after six months in the job. The announcement arrives at a precarious moment: The department-store chain has reported years of falling sales, strategy misfires and revolving-door leadership — and is set to release quarterly results on Tuesday.

Bender has been on the board for six years and stepped in after the abrupt ouster of Ashley Buchanan, who was fired in May. That scandal broke just three months into Buchanan’s tenure, when an investigation found he’d conducted business with a vendor without disclosing conflicts of interest. He was also reportedly in a live-in relationship with Chandra Holt, founder of coffee company Incredibrew. The Buchanan hiring gaffe followed the reign of Tom Kingsbury, another interim-turned-permanent CEO, who had replaced Michelle Gass when she exited for Levi Strauss & Co.

The Wall Street Journalreports that some of Kingsbury’s merchandising changes — including shrinking petites and fine jewelry — backfired. “Our strategy is to become more customer-led,” Bender told the WSJ. “In the six months I’ve been in the job, we’ve been more focused on listening to customers.”

That shift comes with little time to spare. In its most recent quarter, Kohl’s posted a 5.1% sales drop.

CNBC notes the company had already projected a 5% to 6% decline in net sales for the fiscal year. Analysts say the chain’s decade-long pattern of shrinking revenue, stalled turnarounds, and mistimed merchandising leaves little room for more errors.

“Kohl’s problems are so deep that it’s unclear what, if anything, Bender can do about them,” Morningstar analyst David Swartz told Reuters. “It would have been better if Kohl’s could have recruited someone from the outside.” In an earlier note describing the company’s “broken business model,” Swartz wrote that Kohl’s “has been implementing turnaround plans for years and nothing has really worked.”

Those weak results leave the retailer exposed to activist pressure, even as it touts strengths like more than 30 million loyalty members, a solid ecommerce business and valuable real-estate holdings. But Swartz cautions that Amazon, discount chains and specialty retailers “will continue to siphon apparel sales from it and other department stores.”

Some observers see a small opening for a reset. Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData, wrote that he hopes Bender will not “simply be a continuity CEO.” What the chain needs most, he added, is “a shift in management attitude and focus, with a huge injection of discipline and determination to improve the business.”