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Wednesday August 8, 3:22 pm Eastern Time, by Ellis Mnyandu

NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Kohl's Corp. on Wednesday launched a Web site in time for the back-to-school season that the discount retailer hopes will push growth of its discount department stores.

``This is about convenience for our customers,'' Kohl's spokeswoman Susan Henderson said. She told Reuters the www.kohls.com Web site will initially feature limited merchandise categories, including apparel, luggage, footwear, small electric goods and home decor accessories.

It will also provide gift packaging services, currently not offered at the company's more than 350 stores in 28 states. After gauging customer response, Kohl's aims to grow the site's offerings in the future, she added. ``We really feel the main driver of our business is going to be our brick-and-mortar presence. But we do feel that e-commerce is about convenience to our customers and is a great complement to our existing stores,'' Henderson said.

She said Kohl's has been planning its e-commerce entry for the last 20 months, a move analysts said was prudent in the light of many

e-commerce retail ventures that have struggled to be profitable and instead have become a burden on parent companies. Henderson said Kohl's had opted to ``carefully'' weigh its leap onto the Web instead of following the rush that saw most U.S. retailers set up sites on the Internet more than two years ago.

CAUTIOUS APPROACH HAILED

``We were very cautious from the beginning so that we make sure we really satisfy the customer in the best way we can,'' she said, adding she thought Kohl's had missed nothing from the initial e-commerce rush. ``The delay in the launch was probably a pretty wise decision,'' said Jeff Stinson, a retail industry analyst at Midwest Research.

``Launching the site now fits much more with the brand you've got in the stores, and although not a major piece of the Kohl's story, I think it will be complementary to what they do in the stores also,'' he added. Henderson said the site will be run as part of Kohl's overall business, backed by a distribution center in Ohio. The decision by Kohl's to run its site as an integral part of the main business comes amid a recent retreat by discounters Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kmart Corp. to fold their once-standalone Internet arms into their brick-and-mortar operations.

``This is a great opportunity to introduce Kohl's to different places where we are not yet located so that people become aware of us,'' said

Henderson. Kohl's is among a number of U.S. discount chains -- including U.S. No. 1 discounter Wal-Mart -- whose sales and profit outlook analysts see underpinned by the search for value among shoppers, who have been shaken by a slowing economy and mounting corporate layoffs.

The discounter plans to open four new stores this month in El Paso and in Chicago. It also has plans for an additional 24 stores in markets

including Atlanta, Oklahoma City and the Midwest region. Kohl's shares traded up 2.1 percent, or $1.19, at $58.86 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are down almost 4 percent so far this year, versus a 12 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's index for

department stores, which includes Kohl's as one of its components.

Wednesday August 8 2:37 PM ET

CINCINNATI (AP) - Federated Department Stores Inc. is expanding distribution of its private-label apparel and other merchandise to Australia, Chile and Peru, the retailer announced Wednesday.

The company's New York-based Federated Merchandising Group already opened operations this year to sell I.N.C. International Concepts

women's apparel in 15 department stores in Japan. That license agreement with Kosugi Sangyo Co. Inc. Ltd. covers stores in cities

including Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe.

Under the new agreement, Australian retailer Myer Grace Brothers will begin offering Federated brands including Charter Club, Styler & Co. and Jennifer Moore women's apparel, Alfani for men, and Greendog children's wear in March 2002.

Ripley, a South American department store operator, will begin this month to sell I.N.C. women's apparel and Tools of the Trade cookware in six stores in Santiago, Chile, and Lima, Peru. The Greendog products are to be added in February, Federated executives said.