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by mattdodge 2619 days ago
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.

4 comments

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.

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.

Kohls is likely only the same price with the 25% discount and your Kohl's credit card.
It's probably restricted so that certain items and brands do not qualify.
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.
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.