On Thursday, shares of the department store chains Macy’s Inc. (NYSE:M) and Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) fell as their quarterly sales continued to drop. Gross margin for both of these companies fell as they continued to rely heavily on discounting and promotions while also spending more on shipping online orders.

There has been a declining mall traffic and tough competition from off price retailers and competitors such as Amazon which department store chains have been struggling with. This has lead to a 10^th straight quarter of falling sales at Macy’s and a 6^th straight drop at Kohl’s. As a result, Macy’s plans to launch a new marketing strategy in September in hopes to increase traffic as well as creating a new loyalty program.

Second quarter gross margins dropped 40.3% from 40.9% for Macy’s while Kohl’s fell $39.5% to 39.4%. Macy’s reported an adjusted profit of 48 cents per share and revenue totaling up to $5.55 billion while Kohl’s profit was reported as $1.24 per share and revenue of $4.14 billion. Shares of Macy’s dropped 8.3% at $21.12 while Kohl’s dropped 7% to $38.97.