Need to send something from Amazon back? Some Kohl's to offer free returns

Kohl's and Amazon are cementing their business relationship with some of Kohl's stores in Los Angeles and Chicago starting to accept Amazon returns next month.

The 82 stores in those cities will start offering free returns of Amazon purchases in October, the companies announced Tuesday. Consumers can bring in eligible items for return and have them packed and returned from the select stores.
 
“This is a great example of how Kohl’s and Amazon are leveraging each other's strengths — the power of Kohl’s store portfolio and omnichannel capabilities combined with the power of Amazon’s reach and loyal customer base," said Richard Schepp, Kohl's chief administrative officer, in a statement.

Amazon has been a key factor cited in declining in-store sales across the retail industry. Kohl's had looked to boost shopper traffic by teaming with the online e-commerce giant. Earlier this month, the e-commerce retailer and the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based department store chain revealed Kohl's would begin housing Amazon hubs within its stores. At the 1,000-square-foot Amazon-dedicated spaces, consumers can learn about Amazon's popular Echo speaker and other products that connect with Amazon's voice assistant Alexa as well as TVs and computers.

In August, Kohl's began the revamping of its more than 1,100 stores in 49 states to be "operationally smaller," reducing the number of products available in stores, as part of its plan to shrink — and to boost online sales and in-store pickups — by year's end.

Like other retailers, Kohl's has been hit by declining sales, but its sales in the second quarter, which ended in July, fell only 1%, while net income rose 48% to $208 million.

Meanwhile, Amazon has expanded its brick-and-mortar presence with its June purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.

Partnering with Amazon is a double-edged sword for companies, said Cooper Smith, director of Amazon research at L2, a research firm that benchmarks brands’ digital performance.

 “We've been down this road before: Borders and Toys R Us both partnered with Amazon in order to boost short-term sales and now they're both bankrupt,” he said.

The difference in this instance is that Borders and Toys R Us essentially gave the keys to their inventory to Amazon while Kohl's is acting as its distribution partner.

“I think we'll see the deal pay out for Kohl's during the fourth quarter, promoting the Echo on Black Friday and Amazon returns post-holidays to attract more in-store shoppers. But after that, I don't see much upside. Kohl's is walking a very thin line here,” he said.

Kohl's (KSS) shares were up 4% to $46.66 as the market opened Tuesday.

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Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.