Photo: Gap Inc.
Will Old Navy’s “Kid-Proof” Guarantee Boost Back-to-School Sales?
Old Navy is offering a one-year “Kid-Proof” return guarantee for uniform styles purchased during the upcoming back-to-school season that “don’t stand up to the wear and tear of a school year.”
Old Navy typically allows returns within 30 days.
The one-year guarantee is designed to demonstrate Old Navy’s “rigorous quality testing and commitment to uncompromising durability,” including around fabric strength and fade resistance after multiple washes and daily wear.
“At Old Navy, we understand the demands of a busy school year. That’s why our uniform products are made using durable fabrics that are proven to be built to last,” said Sarah Holme, head of design and product development for Old Navy.
The guarantee follows Old Navy’s “Price ON-Lock” back-to-school initiative in 2022 that promised back-to-school prices wouldn’t rise amid escalating inflation.
Stricter return policies have arrived in recent years as retailers work to mitigate rising return-related costs, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and CNBC.
Last year, Old Navy and sister chains, Gap and Banana Republic, reduced their return windows from 45 days to 30 days, while J.Crew halved its return window from 60 to 30 days in 2019. In March of this year, Macy’s reduced its post-purchase return window to 30 days from 90 days. Amazon, American Eagle, and Dillard’s are among those with 30-day return limits.
Among those with more generous return policies:
- The Children’s Place allows returns for purchases within 45 days.
- JCPenney’s return limit is within 60 days.
- Walmart allows returns within 90 days post-purchase.
- Target accepts returns within 90 days for most items for regular customers and 120 days for RedCard members.
- Kohl’s return policy allows 180 days to make a return, except for premium electronics and beauty purchases.
- L.L.Bean allows returns within a year after purchase.
- Nordstrom has “no time limits” for returns made on purchases from its full-price stores, although it requests that “customers treat us fairly as well. From time to time we may not accept a return.” From Nordstrom Rack, the return window is 30 days for in-store purchases and 40 days for online purchases.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of Old Navy’s “Kid-Proof” guarantee enabling a one-year window for returns of back-to-school clothes? Do you generally lean more toward stricter or more generous return windows?
Kitting out kids for back to school is expensive and the last thing parents want is to have to buy clothing items again and again because of shoddy quality. Old Navy’s policy provides some peace of mind and will likely resonate. However, it’s not the only generous return policy out there: on own brand items, including Cat & Jack apparel for kids, Target allows returns to be made for one year from the date of purchase. This received a lot of publicity earlier this year. Given Old Navy has ceded some market share in kidswear to Target over the past couple of years, I wonder how much of this is a bit of a rearguard action.
The Old Navy’s “Kid-Proof” guarantee enabling a one-year window for returns of back-to-school clothes bucks the trend of retailers shortening their return guidelines. This should catch the attention of parents and help persuade them to purchase their back-to-school clothes at Old Navy. This should also help increase the perception of quality at Old Navy. This seems like a smart strategy.
Cool idea. Sadly I don’t think there are enough Old Navy customers these days to react to this to move the needle much at all.
Ideally, school uniforms live to be passed along to younger students. If this guarantee is also a way to give the customer confidence that the Old Navy offerings will last, its a win for both. Best case, Old Navy will have set KPIs to truly measure the full picture of success for this strategy rather than a narrow view of a few items sales trends.
In this narrow circumstance, I think the one year window is a great idea. Parents fully expect their kids to outgrow their clothes. But they sure as heck don’t want clothing items to wear out before the kids outgrow them. This is an easy-to-offer insurance policy against exactly that possibility
Generous return policies speak to the retailers’ confidence in their products. Guaranteed quality at a low price point is hard to beat, especially as consumers are tightening their wallets.
In the release, Old Navy says, “During the prime Back-to-School season, all uniform basics will be priced at $15 and under.” Looking on the site today, some items are on sale for even less.
However, I’m not sure that this guarantee will convince shoppers who otherwise wouldn’t be interested in the uniform line to consider it.
“Generous return policies speak to the retailers’ confidence in their products” – Brilliant take on this issue. I’m going to start using that line of reasoning!
To be clear, the Old Navy BTS Guarantee is only for uniform clothing. It’s not for all back to school clothes. So the things that you buy that are labeled “uniform”, have a guarantee of a year, the rest of the stuff has a 30 day return window. Still, when you have to buy a lot of polos and khaki pants this guarantee will help nudge customers to buy theirs at Old Navy.
In regard to return policies, I think that a 30 day return policy is fair. Nobody needs to keep things sitting around their house for 120+ days. Changing to a 30 day policy is a good way for retailers to train their customers to be smarter about what they buy and what they keep.
The length of the return policy shouts how confident the retailer is in thier products.
The length of the return policy shouts how happy the retailer wants their customer to be.
We seem very split on this, and I went with the naysayers. Part of it is simply that I have a hard time picturing Old Navy being a source for school uniforms; I may be wrong, of course, in which case this part of my doubt may be rendered null (or at least reduced).
The other part is that, beyond some point – say 60 days – the policy is really part of a marketing strategy more than having practical use. It makes a lot of sense for places like LLBean or Nordstrom, since service/reliability are what you go there for. I see it being less purposeful at ON.