What Kohl's Big Earnings Whiff Says About Its Amazon Returns Program

Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) is entering the Christmas selling season not feeling so merry after its third-quarter earnings report hit the market with a thud. The retailer badly missed on its top- and bottom-line estimates and cut its full-year outlook.

While the mid-tier department store blamed its troubles on an "increasingly competitive promotional environment," it doesn't look like Kohl's partnership with Amazon is helping any. The program under which the company accepts returns for the e-commerce giant was supposed to bring more customers through its doors, which would hopefully lead to incremental sales growth. However, based on its comparable-store sales, which are up by an anemic 0.4% -- below analysts' consensus prediction of a 0.8% rise -- whatever store traffic gains it's realizing from that partnership aren't translating into many sales.

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Source Fool.com