When Amazon and Kohl’s initially announced their partnership, I was surprised. I did not see the immediate benefit to Kohl’s. This partnership offered Amazon customers a convenient option to return purchases to Kohl’s. I could easily tick off reasons why this arrangement would work for Amazon. The most important being that Kohl’s could offer brick and mortar stores as an option for Amazon customers. What about Kohl’s? What was in it for them? Increased foot traffic would be the immediate upside with driving Amazon customers into the stores to make their returns. How big would the true RETURN be for Kohl’s versus the investment of processing Amazon’s returns?

Tonya Garcia reported on this for MarketWatch and wrote: “For Kohl’s, the benefits to joining with Amazon are clear. This deal drives foot traffic through Kohl’s doors. And if those shoppers, now with a little more cash in their wallets, see something they like after they drop off their package, Kohl’s gets to ring up the sale.” More importantly, I learned from this article that Kohl’s sells some 200 products of Amazon’s in their stores. Did you know that? You can read, Ms. Garcia’s article “This is what Amazon gets out of its relationship with Kohl’s” here.

I totally agree with Ms. Garcia’s assessment; and, as I started doing some research it showed that the RETURN partnership could amount to something big for this mid-tier discount retailer considering that they have more than 1,000 stores in the U.S. Plus, there are more than 100 million Americans who are Amazon Prime members (including me). The sheer number of Amazon Prime members shows the ordering power of Amazon shoppers.

I buy stuff on Amazon and I return stuff to Amazon for a variety of reasons. Over the past four months I needed to make two Amazon returns and I decided to do it via Kohl’s to experience the process.

Here’s my Amazon return experience via Kohl’s:

The very first time, I made the return it was super easy. Unfortunately, for convenience sake, Kohl’s is a little farther than my local UPS store. It is also worth noting here that the process is virtually the same whether returning to Kohl’s or a UPS store. As a customer, you do not have to print anything out or package anything up. The customer making the return, merely shows the barcode on your smartphone to be scanned. So, it is essentially the same at Kohl’s except you receive a Kohl’s savings coupon of 25% off which was not beneficial the first time. I walked in, back to customer service, returned the merchandise, a Kohl’s associate scanned my bar code and I walked back out of the store.

The second time, which was more recent, returning an Amazon purchase at Kohl’s was almost identical; except, the product I was returning was damaged upon receipt. There was an extra step in the return process, not for me but for the associate processing the return. Still it was super easy. This time, I received my 25% coupon and thought, “let me try it”. I needed placemats for my kitchen table. I took the extra time, selected place mats and used my coupon.

I do not know what the additional projected foot traffic would amount to or what the conversion rate is for consumers returning Amazon purchases, but it could be huge. Taking a conservative glimpse and applying straight math to the projection (versus a complex and more accurate algebra calculation); using myself as an example, after my coupon I spent roughly $11. Amazon delivers a gazillion packages a day; if even one person returns a purchase to each Kohl’s store; and uses the 25% coupon; spending on average $11 that is:

$11.00 purchase X 1,100 stores = $12,100 gross sales X 364 days (they are open on Thanksgiving but not Christmas day).

That equals more than $4 million in incremental sales a year. I know it is rudimentary math application, but you get what I am saying.

After walking through the exercise and doing some research, I am no longer surprised. The Amazon and Kohl’s partnership makes sense to me; but, in the future I plan on taking my returns to the UPS store - it is easier, a shorter drive and I do not end up spending more money!

Sonya Ruff Jarvis, is the Managing Member of Jarvis Consultants and the Founder of the eRetailer Summit and JC Event Group. An expert in her field, Sonya has been published in numerous retail industry b-to-b publications. Sonya shares her experiences in her book series Mindful Minutes: A Marketer’s Journey Through Business. In addition, Sonya collaborated in publishing an anthology, Mentoring Moments: 14 Remarkable Women Share Their Breakthroughs to Success. To purchase Sonya’s books go to AMAZON.

Sonya has a M.B.A. in Marketing. She is married and has a daughter and they live in Trumbull, Connecticut.

Follow Sonya on twitter at @jarvisconsult or @eretailersummit.