Kohl's expands Amazon returns program to all stores, shares jump

(Reuters) - Kohl's Corp said on Tuesday items bought on Amazon.com Inc can now be returned at all its U.S. stores starting July, deepening its partnership with the e-commerce giant and sending its shares up as much as 9 percent.

The returns program with Amazon.com, launched in 2017, is currently available in 100 Kohl's stores mostly concentrated in the Los Angeles, Chicago and Milwaukee markets.

The new program will allow returns at Kohl's all 1,159 stores in the United States.

"This new service is another example of how Kohl's is delivering innovation to drive traffic to our stores and bring more relevance to our customers," said Kohl's Chief Executive Officer Michelle Gass.

The department store operator will accept "eligible" returns from customers free of charge and package and send them to Amazon return centers, the company said.

Kohl's also sells Amazon devices such as the Fire tablet and the Echo voice-enabled speaker in dedicated areas in more than 200 stores.

Shares of Kohl's were up about 8.2 percent at $72.97, setting it up for its best day since December last year. The stock has gained 1.7 percent this year, but underperformed the broader S&P 500 Department Stores Sub Index's 10.3 percent rise.

(Reporting by Soundarya J in Bengaluru)