Amazon customers will be able to return purchases to any Kohl’s store in July | Hacker News Reader

Amazon customers will be able to return purchases to any Kohl’s store in July

corporate.kohls.com

76 pointssmaili50 comments

In addition to whatever Amazon pays Kohls for being a returns agent, when a customer returns an Amazon item to Kohls and gets their refund, that customer now has an extra chunk of cash in their pocket while at Kohls. I wonder how many extra sales Kohls will make by bringing in extra money-ladened customers with this arrangement.

That's just what I was thinking. We always have Kohl's Cash about to expire floating around our house. Now we've got a reason to spend it and time to do so.

I don’t think kohl’s will be refunding cash to people, that would bring a whole host of problems to Amazon and Kohl’s.

A fraction of the people are still going to spend money when they return items, knowing that they will be refunded by Amazon eventually.

On every return I have done at Kohl’s there was a 25% off one item today-only coupon printed at the bottom of the receipt.

The money itself went back to whatever form of payment was used to buy at Amazon. The credit is also not instantaneous.

This makes a ton of sense for Amazon, but not as much for Kohls. Why would I want to make returns easier for one of my competitors? A key advantage brick-and-mortar stores have over online retailers is their local returns, so I'm not really understanding why Kohl's is giving that up.

It brings people into their stores. If n% of people returning an Amazon package look around Kohl's while they are there, it's a win.

Because getting customers into a store is half the battle. The offchance they make a purchase, even that overpriced 2 dollar soda, is a win for Kohl's. It is all traffic and business they might not otherwise have.

Doesn't change your point, which makes great sense. Kohl's, though, is mostly clothes and shoes, with a smattering of small appliances and luggage. It's not a department store really.

And clothes and shoes are actually the things I'm most likely to buy in a store.

We've been able to return most Amazon Prime items to Kohls here in SoCal for a while. When you drop off the return they hand you a 25% off coupon for anything in the store. There has been several times that I've browsed the store and bought something because of that coupon.

So basically, Kohl's gets foot traffic and some purchases that they wouldn't have seen otherwise. Seems like a very smart and adaptive move on their part.

Plus the returns area is in the back corner for the store near me, thus maximizing the chance you might see something you end-up purchasing impulsively.

Also at least at our local Kohl's, you have to walk ALL THE WAY through the store to get to the Amazon returns desk. It's upstairs, in the back corner. It is impossible to do an Amazon return at Kohl's without walking through tons of merchandise displays.

The one I've done my returns at, near LAX, has it at the front of the store.

So if Amazon and Kohl's have the same item for the same price, you could buy it on Amazon, return it to Kohl's, and then buy it again at a 25% discount?

Seems like hardly worth the hassle but could be nice if that promotion lasts.

It's probably restricted so that certain items and brands do not qualify.

Kohls is likely only the same price with the 25% discount and your Kohl's credit card.

Kohl's is king of overpricing items to then offer massive sales through "Kohl's points", coupons, etc. Their retail prices are B.S. I don't know anyone that pays retail at Kohl's - people shop there to brag about how much of a 'deal' they're getting, which isn't much of a deal at all.

Kohl's also reprices many of their products on a daily basis. I used to be a repricer. I would walk through every night for hours changing the price labels on all the stands. That's why they have updated so many of their price labels to be electronic.

Generally yes, but you can stack discounts often if you play the game. Things like shoes on clearance can end up at 15% of their original price- I've gotten a wide variety of stuff like that.

Now my wife on the other hand, will usually end up just with Kohls Cash and maybe 20% off, so it ends up fairly meh in the wash.

Though, if I am going by Stretechery's aggregator theory (https://stratechery.com/2017/amazons-new-customer/) I am not sure how Khol's is going to get anywhere in the long run competing with Amazon as an aggregator, even with the increased foot traffic.

I haven’t been to Kohl’s since my mom was buying me clothes for school (12 years ago) but I do buy stuff on Amazon and return it.

I might end up in Kohl’s again soon.

I wonder how prepared Amazon is for return fraud. Having a 3rd party accept the returns, locally, makes them a more attractive target.

There are not 'competitors' in business, only 'interests.' -Folke Kafka, professor of business administration, University of Pittsburgh.

> This makes a ton of sense for Amazon, but not as much for Kohls. Why would I want to make returns easier for one of my competitors?

Kohl's also has Amazon boutiques; they see both this and the returns as a way to drive floor traffic that they expect they can monetize.

There are several Amazon lockers within a couple blocks of my apartment. Returning stuff to Amazon is much easier than returning stuff to any brick and mortar store.

This has been at least a short-term win for Kohl's. They've seen improved revenue since starting this partnership [1].

In the long term if Amazon decides it needs a lot of real-estate fairly quickly it could do worse than to buy a company with a lot of existing square footage it's already working with. This would probably deliver a win for Kohl's shareholders.

[1] https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/amazon-was-killing-kohls-o...

Surprised you don't see this. A big issue with online clothes shopping is buying it sight unseen. By returning clothing there, people may just say to heck with it and buy comparable clothes at Kohl's, since they can try them on and see them prepurchase.

This is pretty sweet. Wish we had this in Canada! Just out of curiosity, am I missing any downsides to this? Can anyone from Los Angeles, Chicago or Milwaukee markets share their experience?

It's amazing tbh, this is how I return things now. There's no reason to go through the hassle of mailing crap anymore, I can just stop at Kohl's on the way home (and pick up some In-N-Out next door ;)), drop my stuff off, and continue on my way. The returns area is right at the front of the store and its super quick to drop off your stuff. Whoever came up with this idea should get a promotion.

You could be in Diamond Bar...

Or RSM

It was pretty straightforward. The return counter was right by the front door where you'd typically do other kinds of returns or exchanges, and after returning they give you a voucher for a percentage off purchases at Kohl's that day (20% off if I remember correctly).

What is odd is my most recent Amazon return they did not offer that store as an return option, instead my nearest drop off point was an Amazon Books location about 15 miles further away. I'd assumed the Kohl's experiment was over.

It was really painless. I bought something without paying attention and got the wrong model. Normally this means when returning the item I'm out the return shipping cost, but with the Kohls return I just walked into the store with only the item I was returning (unboxed, even) and they scanned a QR code from an email on my phone. There was zero cost and I didn't have to repack a box (though I did have to drive to a store).

Oh man, I can't imagine the logistics with all this. Exactly what items are eligible? Do they enter in Kohl's system, or Amazon's system? Are they thrown in the same pile of returns to be put back on the floor at the end of the night by workers, or are they put in a special area that each Kohl's has? What if a Kohl's employees caves into an angry customer trying to return an ineligible item? Is that even possible?

Having been a customer in this exchange, it looks like all Amazon systems. Amazon sold goods seem to be eligible - All? I'm not sure but that's handled by Amazon, so no load on Khol's and everything is shipped back to Amazon - presumably in bulk so as to save on shipping/packaging materials and labor.

Probably an RMA scanner and bin for Amazon to pickup from. Then its verified in the warehouse.

Maybe amazon will pay kohl’s to directly send things to the dumpster.

Probably saves Amazon some return shipping cost, especially for bigger/bulkier items.

Kohl's started spamming me with no way to opt out / unsubscribe many years ago. I had never done any business with them at the time nor ever given them my contact info. Had never been to one of their stores. Had no idea what they even sold.

Since that time I vowed never to do business wirh them ever. Not happy that Amazon is partnering with such a bad company

Good way to get more foot traffic in Kohls.

And a good way to possibly build towards a buyout if Amazon decides it wants a larger retail presence. I'm not saying they should do so but it sure seems like a starting point for Kohl's.

TIL Kohl's is an American Department Store chain. Not to be confused with Kiehl's, the cosmetic brand with an international reach.

It was a confusing moment to think you could return Amazon orders to a cosmetics shop in the US. But American retail makes no sense to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Funny, my wife and I have been doing this for months here in Orange County. I guess this was a beta rollout or something.

Personally I would much rather pack it up myself, but lately it's been $0 return at Kohls vs. sometimes I have seen a decent return fee for the UPS method.

Maybe the Kohl’s execs are trying to line themselves up for an Amazon acquisition? If they’ve changed their compensation model recently, it may provide some insight into their motivation. An Amazon acquisition would cause a significant stock bump...

When will they do this with their whole foods, amazon go & amazon 4-star popup stores?

I wonder if you will immediately get notified of your account closure in person when returning things in a way Amazon doesn't like or will they just send you an email after the fact?

If only this worked in the other direction where Kohl's Cash could be used on Amazon... you've heard of Bitcoin Billionaires, but my mom is a Kohl's Cash Billionaire!

This is just Kohl’s accepting the reality and trying to get on Amazon’s side before the competition does. Because I can many of the other stores wanting a similar deal with amazon.

I’m British and I’ve never heard of Kohl’s. What do they do?

They're a department store chain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohl%27s

It’s a clothing/housewares store. Their gimmick is everything is overpriced so you need to shop when there’s a sale so you can use a scratch off 30% coupon, and a credit card they force employees to push.

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