Kohl’s stock explodes after announcing it will accept Amazon returns at all its locations

Yesterday, Kohl’s announced it will accept returns for items ordered on Amazon at all 1,150 of its US locations beginning in July. After the news, Kohl’s shares surged nearly 10%.

The move extends the partnership Kohl’s and Amazon have enjoyed since 2017, when Kohl’s first started selling the e-commerce giant’s smart-home products at select stores.

It’s all about collaboration, people!

Beyond Amazon, Kohl’s is piloting other partnerships to drive traffic to its stores, taking in-store tenants such as grocery chain Aldi and concrete-jungle-on-a-budget Planet Fitness.

Kohl’s hopes these partnerships will entice people shopping for groceries, returning Amazon items, or looking to get jacked, to stick around afterward and buy Kohl’s products — a move that analysts believe to be one of the few advantages it has over rivals like Macy’s and J.C. Penney. 

And it’s already paying off

Early data from Earnest Research found that sales at Kohl’s stores in Chicago — the market that helped kick off the Amazon partnership — outran sales nationwide last year.

What’s more, the firm found that the percentage of “new customers” at the Chicago Kohl’s (defined as those who didn’t shop at Kohl’s during the prior year) was up 9% in 2018, compared to just 1% growth in the rest of the country.