March 24, 2025
Image Courtesy of Kohl’s
Should Kohl’s Stop Accepting Amazon Returns?
Kohl’s has temporarily stopped accepting Amazon returns at some stores amid complaints aired on social media by store associates.
Kohl’s said in a statement to Modern Retail, which first reported the move, “To continue to learn from our customers, we are conducting a test in a handful of our stores where we will be temporarily discontinuing the third-party returns service. Kohl’s has a test and learn culture that helps us to evolve our store experience and stay informed about customers’ expectations and preferences.”
Under the current setup, those returning Amazon packages often receive a 25%-off coupon to shop at Kohl’s.
On a Reddit post, Kohl’s employees widely praised the test removal, with the thread indicating that some stores are seeing hundreds of Amazon returns per day.
Among the comments from associates:
- “I hope they do this overall, Amazon is a headache and can’t be worth it with the amount of work and man hours it takes to do it. Just palletizing and loading it onto the truck is wasted hours, let alone the receiving and sorting side.”
- “Even though everyone is trained for Amazon, we have several associates that simply cannot lift the boxes due to either bad back/neck/shoulder issues. They did not sign up for it as if they worked at the UPS Store.”
- “They can’t get rid of this fast enough. These people are not our customers, but they do complain when the line is long and they have to wait. Let them take their garbage somewhere else.”
A few positive comments indicated some shoppers do use the coupon to shop in the store afterward. One said, “Lots of them love the 25% coupon and tell me. When I’m in the break room I’ll have cashiers mention ‘Oh it must be busy back there because [they’ve] all been at the registers using the coupon.’ I would be happy if we got rid of it. I could see a lot of customers being upset over it though.”
Kohl’s, which rolled out the program nationwide in 2019 after a test, indicated that at least 2 million new customers visited Kohl’s stores in 2020 due to its acceptance of Amazon returns, with about a third being millennials. In 2023, Kohl’s officials on an earnings call stated that the program continued to drive traffic.
A Washington Post article from July 2024, however, claimed programs enabling Amazon customers to return merchandise to Kohl’s, Staples, Whole Foods, and Amazon Fresh locations for free are “turning store associates’ jobs into a retail horror story.”
Store workers told the newspaper that Amazon package returners — reportedly tagged as “Amazombies” by associates — have “become a plague on their working lives, wasting staff time without increasing revenue while creating long lines, fraying tempers, and generating piles of boxes and plastic waste.”
A 2023 study by academic researchers in the UK concluded that “returns from online sales, particularly returns to store, are seriously impacting company profits.”
Kohl’s new test comes as Ashley Buchanan, who was appointed Kohl’s CEO in mid-January, recently introduced a number of “tactical, short-term” steps to help stabilize the retailer’s business — including rebalancing assortments, improving in-stocks, and reducing coupon exclusions — following three straight years of same-store declines.
BrainTrust
Scott Benedict
Founder & CEO, Benedict Enterprises LLC
Patricia Vekich Waldron
Contributing Editor, RetailWire; Founder and CEO, Vision First
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What factors should go into Kohl’s decision on whether to continue or stop accepting Amazon returns in its stores?
What changes may reduce the workload and stress on customer service departments caused by the acceptance of online returns?
Poll
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Amazon returns drive foot traffic. However, they do not drive sales as most of the incremental traffic walks out of Kohl’s without making a purchase, or in many cases without even engaging with the offer. That’s a serious indictment on the Kohl’s proposition. If Kohl’s improved things, then it may increase conversion. However, as it stands the Amazon returns are just a sideshow. They’re neither the solution to Kohl’s problems, nor an inherent part of the problem.
Perhaps Amazon returnees are Kohl’s most enormous opportunity to add new customers. Why can’t they do it?
I think the question – “should they or shouldn’t they?” – ultimately misses the point: they did this because of the belief that Amazon’s returners could be turned into Kohl’s customers; that this has apparently failed to happen is no fault of Amazon, and – more to the point – the reasons for it will persist…suspension or not. Now, of course, it may have become a costly headache, but I see that as a secondary issue.
Kohl’s inability to capture the Amazon returnees highlights a much bigger problem with Kohl’s.
The genesis of the decision – to entice potential customers, who would not normally shop at Kohls, to now step foot into their store, is working. While the conversion numbers are far lower than Kohls management would like, any sale to this new audience, is by definition incremental and beneficial. Thus the challenge is now a merchandising one – how to improve the conversion rate?
What are the people returning? Electronics, tools, automotive, books, craft supplies? If it isn’t clothing or housewares, then Kohl’s never had a chance to convert them and is throwing away their resources.
Kohl’s gave it the old college try, but I never imagined that this would make a meaningful difference in its bottom line. And there’s a lot to be said for happy associates.
NO…Kohl’s should not stop accepting Amazon returns. And now I have to flip the whole question to explain why. Amazon should just buy Kohl’s. And not to buy Kohl’s per se. They would be buying almost 1200 stores in every state except Hawaii. They would be buying a ready made retail infrastructure. Let’s face it, Kohl’s has failed. And if Kohl’s closed tomorrow, Target and Walmart win big and life goes on. A facelift and retooled Kohl’s…??? I don’t know…how’s that going at JCP? And not accepting Amazon returns does absolutely zero to solve the merchandising and execution problems in the rest of the store. But solving the merchandising and execution problems in a way that leverages Amazon traffic would be a solution that works in the long run. And a store with “Amazon” over the front door takes Amazon returns. Simple.
Of course I know it’s not simple. And of course I know it won’t happen, unless maybe they’ve been brainstorming this idea for the last year or three. Can you imagine…all the experiments they have done over the years, all their learnings both plus and minus, along with all their data…pulled together in some kind of store of the future…??? Not some buffed up store from the prior century? Again, I know it’s not simple.
Retailers are supposed to figure out how to leverage foot traffic. Amazon is creating enough foot traffic to cause headaches and heartache on one hand, but no profitable business on the other hand? And somebody says, “These people are not our customers.” Foot traffic that is creating enough work to complain about sounds like a very high class problem in retail right now. Slamming the door on the foot traffic does not sound like Plan “A”, no matter who’s name is above the front door.
Great points, Jeff!
I think it’s clear what Kohls associates think of accepting Amazon returns. I wonder what core Kohls customers think of it and how it impacts the store experience.
This is very weird. Kohls is getting increased foot traffic from Amazon returns, but don’t want it because it isn’t “their type of customer”. Kohls needs to take a hard look at themselves. They are a retailer in steep decline. Anything that increases store traffic will help them. The true problem is that Kohls is not closing new business sales on their increased traffic. Kohls has new upper management because the old executive team couldn’t see the problems that were staring them in the face. Kohls needs to wake up, recognize that if they get rid of Amazon they will lose lots of foot traffic, and find a solution to dedicating better employees to give better service and enhanced solutions so that their new customers will have more reasons to purchase their products. Any retailer will tell you that the immense expense to market to specific audiences, and then close them on their sale, is much greater than just finding solutions to the traffic that is already in your store.
When the retail associate says, “It isn’t their type of customer,” maybe that attitude is the entire problem.
Apparently, this is an experiment that initially worked & now is showing its shortcomings, in both the lack of incremental business & staff unhappiness. It may be time for the experiment to end & redouble efforts to enhance Kohl’s potential differential advantage. Staples & Whole Foods face similar challenges. The difference being Amazon’s ownership of Whole Foods.
It is likely that Kohl’s will analyze whether accepting Amazon returns has increased foot traffic and, as a result, boosted sales in-store.
The company needs to determine whether the costs associated with handling returns are justified by the additional revenue generated by returning customers.
Furthermore, determining the overall financial benefit requires assessing the long-term impact on customer loyalty and brand perception.
By accepting Amazon returns, Kohl’s enhances its brand image as a convenient and customer-friendly retailer. This partnership attracts new customers. However, Kohl’s must also consider if the association with Amazon affects its own brand identity and whether it aligns with its long-term strategic goals.
When this partnership was originally announced back in 2017, I could not have been more skeptical of it. However, over time, I continued to read and learn about the amount of traffic it drove into Kohl’s and the opportunity it provided to engage a customer they might not have had access to otherwise. I soon began to change my perspective and became a fan of the program.
If there are operational challenges with the program, then fix them. Address the issues and keep what appears, overall, to be a beneficial program to all parties. Dropping something because it is “too hard” seems silly for a format that needs all the traffic and customer engagement it can muster. Also, if you drop it, what will replace the traffic it generates?
The presumption that driving traffic is the goal, and the sales will happen is false. I have studied the store traffic and conversion results for retailers who have accepted Amazon returns and it often doesn’t deliver the benefits that retailers hope it will. Yes, Amazon returns drives incremental store traffic, but unless that traffic is converted into a sale, then it doesn’t deliver much benefit to the retailer. And, it’s a lot harder to convert these ‘returns’ shoppers since they’re visiting the store intentionally to return their product, even with inducements like coupons. But even worse, it could hurt sales by distracting frontline team from serving intentional shoppers.
Hmmm? “These people are not our customers.” Wouldn’t Kohl’s like those people to be their customers? Let’s compare the value and following of the two brands.
“These people are not our customers…”
Record scratch.
Retailers pray for the kind of foot traffic Amazon brings to Kohl’s stores. “These people” could be your customers, in fact, they should be your customers, the question is, why aren’t they? Or maybe a better question is why DON’T they want to be your customers?
Kohl’s decision goes beyond stopping Amazon returns, it’s a question of long-term strategy. Foot traffic alone doesn’t create success if visitors leave without engaging. The real challenge isn’t the return process itself but what happens next.
Instead of removing the program, Kohl’s should rethink how to turn these visitors into loyal customers. Improved in-store experiences, strategic product placement, and exclusive incentives could make a real impact. If the operational strain is too high, optimizing processes is the answer for not eliminating a potential growth channel.
Retail success comes from transforming challenges into strategic opportunities, not avoiding them.
The answer is multipart. We can assume that, before launching this initiative, the Kohl’s sponsors defined what the expected results are, in how many ways they were going to measure the results of the initiative, over what period of time, and what defines success. We don’t have access to that information. From a simpler perspective, customers may enjoy the 25% discount perquisite but, are there many such customers? Are there enough customers to worry about how many wil l be disappointed if the program is ended? Has the initiative increased foot traffic? Was it solely due to the returns initiative? Has any increase in foot traffic resulted in an increase in sales transactions. The initiative has apparently put a strain on store associates. Were arrangements made to increase the labor in the stores to handle the returns without impacting the other day-to-day chores that the associates were already carrying out? Were analysts assigned to review these and other metrics for some period of time post implementation? The questions of the day are not so easy to answer. From a distance, it appear that the squeeze is not worth the juice.
This falls into the category of “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” The explosion of online shopping (and Amazon’s business in particular) since the pandemic has caused an overwhelming problem of customer returns — with all the staffing and logistical headaches it creates — but without any higher sales volume to show for it. Converting higher foot traffic to more sales just isn’t happening.
Clearly the people returning Amazon goods to Kohl’s are not enticed by the coupons to shop for anything else in the store — and that’s the fundamental problem that Kohl’s needs to address for all of its customers. No matter how Amazon compensates Kohl’s for the expense of running a return center, it’s not worth it if it prevents Kohl’s from turning the ship around.
Getting foot traffic is one thing, having enough staff to handle the returns and serve customers is on Kohl’s. Sounds like Kohl’s didn’t staff up enough to handle the return traffic and take care of the customers. In this case it is better not to accept the return in understaffed locations.
If the partnership is lopsided or offers fewer mutual benefits than expected, it can make sense to part ways.
As for the “not our customers” line, Amazon’s appeal cuts across shopper segments. Kohl’s need insights to understand why these store visitors are leaving emptyhanded, and consider refreshing its assortment, pricing and promotion strategies.
Never seemed like this was a great fit. Wonder what kind of analysis or data suggested it was in the first place. While foot traffic is good, if you can’t convert, it does nothing.
Amazon needs to provide their own employees to staff in-store returns, or open their own return centers in shuttered mall stores….I watched many of my coworkers burn out under the Amazombie strain……
Does having Amazon returns to Kohl’s increase foot traffic? Yes.
Does a customer returning an item to Amazon at Kohl’s buy more? Occasionally.
Does the word “occasionally” cost Kohl’s money? In other words, is there a cost associated with this convenient return experience to Kohl’s, and does the “occasional” sale cover the cost or more? This question can help decide whether to keep the service or eliminate it. All downsides and benefits must be considered.
Kohl’s initial decision to accept Amazon returns in its store was to take advantage of the foot traffic gained by offering Amazon customers a convenient return location. However, the challenge has been converting that extra foot traffic into sales. If Kohl’s opts to continue offering Amazon return services, it must reconsider its broader strategy toward achieving this original goal. How can they continue providing a convenient return option to Amazon customers – a great draw as customers continue to seek out convenient experiences – while offering a customer experience that captures and engages them once in store.
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Amazon returns drive foot traffic. However, they do not drive sales as most of the incremental traffic walks out of Kohl’s without making a purchase, or in many cases without even engaging with the offer. That’s a serious indictment on the Kohl’s proposition. If Kohl’s improved things, then it may increase conversion. However, as it stands the Amazon returns are just a sideshow. They’re neither the solution to Kohl’s problems, nor an inherent part of the problem.
Perhaps Amazon returnees are Kohl’s most enormous opportunity to add new customers. Why can’t they do it?
I think the question – “should they or shouldn’t they?” – ultimately misses the point: they did this because of the belief that Amazon’s returners could be turned into Kohl’s customers; that this has apparently failed to happen is no fault of Amazon, and – more to the point – the reasons for it will persist…suspension or not. Now, of course, it may have become a costly headache, but I see that as a secondary issue.
Kohl’s inability to capture the Amazon returnees highlights a much bigger problem with Kohl’s.
The genesis of the decision – to entice potential customers, who would not normally shop at Kohls, to now step foot into their store, is working. While the conversion numbers are far lower than Kohls management would like, any sale to this new audience, is by definition incremental and beneficial. Thus the challenge is now a merchandising one – how to improve the conversion rate?
What are the people returning? Electronics, tools, automotive, books, craft supplies? If it isn’t clothing or housewares, then Kohl’s never had a chance to convert them and is throwing away their resources.
Kohl’s gave it the old college try, but I never imagined that this would make a meaningful difference in its bottom line. And there’s a lot to be said for happy associates.
NO…Kohl’s should not stop accepting Amazon returns. And now I have to flip the whole question to explain why. Amazon should just buy Kohl’s. And not to buy Kohl’s per se. They would be buying almost 1200 stores in every state except Hawaii. They would be buying a ready made retail infrastructure. Let’s face it, Kohl’s has failed. And if Kohl’s closed tomorrow, Target and Walmart win big and life goes on. A facelift and retooled Kohl’s…??? I don’t know…how’s that going at JCP? And not accepting Amazon returns does absolutely zero to solve the merchandising and execution problems in the rest of the store. But solving the merchandising and execution problems in a way that leverages Amazon traffic would be a solution that works in the long run. And a store with “Amazon” over the front door takes Amazon returns. Simple.
Of course I know it’s not simple. And of course I know it won’t happen, unless maybe they’ve been brainstorming this idea for the last year or three. Can you imagine…all the experiments they have done over the years, all their learnings both plus and minus, along with all their data…pulled together in some kind of store of the future…??? Not some buffed up store from the prior century? Again, I know it’s not simple.
Retailers are supposed to figure out how to leverage foot traffic. Amazon is creating enough foot traffic to cause headaches and heartache on one hand, but no profitable business on the other hand? And somebody says, “These people are not our customers.” Foot traffic that is creating enough work to complain about sounds like a very high class problem in retail right now. Slamming the door on the foot traffic does not sound like Plan “A”, no matter who’s name is above the front door.
Great points, Jeff!
I think it’s clear what Kohls associates think of accepting Amazon returns. I wonder what core Kohls customers think of it and how it impacts the store experience.
This is very weird. Kohls is getting increased foot traffic from Amazon returns, but don’t want it because it isn’t “their type of customer”. Kohls needs to take a hard look at themselves. They are a retailer in steep decline. Anything that increases store traffic will help them. The true problem is that Kohls is not closing new business sales on their increased traffic. Kohls has new upper management because the old executive team couldn’t see the problems that were staring them in the face. Kohls needs to wake up, recognize that if they get rid of Amazon they will lose lots of foot traffic, and find a solution to dedicating better employees to give better service and enhanced solutions so that their new customers will have more reasons to purchase their products. Any retailer will tell you that the immense expense to market to specific audiences, and then close them on their sale, is much greater than just finding solutions to the traffic that is already in your store.
When the retail associate says, “It isn’t their type of customer,” maybe that attitude is the entire problem.
Apparently, this is an experiment that initially worked & now is showing its shortcomings, in both the lack of incremental business & staff unhappiness. It may be time for the experiment to end & redouble efforts to enhance Kohl’s potential differential advantage. Staples & Whole Foods face similar challenges. The difference being Amazon’s ownership of Whole Foods.
It is likely that Kohl’s will analyze whether accepting Amazon returns has increased foot traffic and, as a result, boosted sales in-store.
The company needs to determine whether the costs associated with handling returns are justified by the additional revenue generated by returning customers.
Furthermore, determining the overall financial benefit requires assessing the long-term impact on customer loyalty and brand perception.
By accepting Amazon returns, Kohl’s enhances its brand image as a convenient and customer-friendly retailer. This partnership attracts new customers. However, Kohl’s must also consider if the association with Amazon affects its own brand identity and whether it aligns with its long-term strategic goals.
When this partnership was originally announced back in 2017, I could not have been more skeptical of it. However, over time, I continued to read and learn about the amount of traffic it drove into Kohl’s and the opportunity it provided to engage a customer they might not have had access to otherwise. I soon began to change my perspective and became a fan of the program.
If there are operational challenges with the program, then fix them. Address the issues and keep what appears, overall, to be a beneficial program to all parties. Dropping something because it is “too hard” seems silly for a format that needs all the traffic and customer engagement it can muster. Also, if you drop it, what will replace the traffic it generates?
The presumption that driving traffic is the goal, and the sales will happen is false. I have studied the store traffic and conversion results for retailers who have accepted Amazon returns and it often doesn’t deliver the benefits that retailers hope it will. Yes, Amazon returns drives incremental store traffic, but unless that traffic is converted into a sale, then it doesn’t deliver much benefit to the retailer. And, it’s a lot harder to convert these ‘returns’ shoppers since they’re visiting the store intentionally to return their product, even with inducements like coupons. But even worse, it could hurt sales by distracting frontline team from serving intentional shoppers.
Hmmm? “These people are not our customers.” Wouldn’t Kohl’s like those people to be their customers? Let’s compare the value and following of the two brands.
“These people are not our customers…”
Record scratch.
Retailers pray for the kind of foot traffic Amazon brings to Kohl’s stores. “These people” could be your customers, in fact, they should be your customers, the question is, why aren’t they? Or maybe a better question is why DON’T they want to be your customers?
Kohl’s decision goes beyond stopping Amazon returns, it’s a question of long-term strategy. Foot traffic alone doesn’t create success if visitors leave without engaging. The real challenge isn’t the return process itself but what happens next.
Instead of removing the program, Kohl’s should rethink how to turn these visitors into loyal customers. Improved in-store experiences, strategic product placement, and exclusive incentives could make a real impact. If the operational strain is too high, optimizing processes is the answer for not eliminating a potential growth channel.
Retail success comes from transforming challenges into strategic opportunities, not avoiding them.
The answer is multipart. We can assume that, before launching this initiative, the Kohl’s sponsors defined what the expected results are, in how many ways they were going to measure the results of the initiative, over what period of time, and what defines success. We don’t have access to that information. From a simpler perspective, customers may enjoy the 25% discount perquisite but, are there many such customers? Are there enough customers to worry about how many wil l be disappointed if the program is ended? Has the initiative increased foot traffic? Was it solely due to the returns initiative? Has any increase in foot traffic resulted in an increase in sales transactions. The initiative has apparently put a strain on store associates. Were arrangements made to increase the labor in the stores to handle the returns without impacting the other day-to-day chores that the associates were already carrying out? Were analysts assigned to review these and other metrics for some period of time post implementation? The questions of the day are not so easy to answer. From a distance, it appear that the squeeze is not worth the juice.
This falls into the category of “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” The explosion of online shopping (and Amazon’s business in particular) since the pandemic has caused an overwhelming problem of customer returns — with all the staffing and logistical headaches it creates — but without any higher sales volume to show for it. Converting higher foot traffic to more sales just isn’t happening.
Clearly the people returning Amazon goods to Kohl’s are not enticed by the coupons to shop for anything else in the store — and that’s the fundamental problem that Kohl’s needs to address for all of its customers. No matter how Amazon compensates Kohl’s for the expense of running a return center, it’s not worth it if it prevents Kohl’s from turning the ship around.
Getting foot traffic is one thing, having enough staff to handle the returns and serve customers is on Kohl’s. Sounds like Kohl’s didn’t staff up enough to handle the return traffic and take care of the customers. In this case it is better not to accept the return in understaffed locations.
If the partnership is lopsided or offers fewer mutual benefits than expected, it can make sense to part ways.
As for the “not our customers” line, Amazon’s appeal cuts across shopper segments. Kohl’s need insights to understand why these store visitors are leaving emptyhanded, and consider refreshing its assortment, pricing and promotion strategies.
Never seemed like this was a great fit. Wonder what kind of analysis or data suggested it was in the first place. While foot traffic is good, if you can’t convert, it does nothing.
Amazon needs to provide their own employees to staff in-store returns, or open their own return centers in shuttered mall stores….I watched many of my coworkers burn out under the Amazombie strain……
Does having Amazon returns to Kohl’s increase foot traffic? Yes.
Does a customer returning an item to Amazon at Kohl’s buy more? Occasionally.
Does the word “occasionally” cost Kohl’s money? In other words, is there a cost associated with this convenient return experience to Kohl’s, and does the “occasional” sale cover the cost or more? This question can help decide whether to keep the service or eliminate it. All downsides and benefits must be considered.
Kohl’s initial decision to accept Amazon returns in its store was to take advantage of the foot traffic gained by offering Amazon customers a convenient return location. However, the challenge has been converting that extra foot traffic into sales. If Kohl’s opts to continue offering Amazon return services, it must reconsider its broader strategy toward achieving this original goal. How can they continue providing a convenient return option to Amazon customers – a great draw as customers continue to seek out convenient experiences – while offering a customer experience that captures and engages them once in store.