Amazon Doesn’t Have To Be Retail’s Worst Nightmare

For years now, it’s been a common view in the retail world that a win for Amazon.com Inc. is a loss for some old-school retailers. But these days, that’s not necessarily the case. Traditional brick-and mortar chains are starting to strike some innovative partnerships with their arch-competitor, turning to unconventional arrangements in the hopes of getting more shoppers back into their stores. If executed properly, there’s a good chance these once-unthinkable alliances end up being a rare win-win scenario, with both the legacy retailer and Amazon getting something they need to unlock new growth. The clearest example of this is Kohl’s Corp., which has a pilot program underway in which Amazon shoppers can return certain items to select Kohl’s stores instead of packing them up and taking them to the post office. The idea is that it might draw heavier foot traffic to Kohl’s outlets, including from customers who wouldn’t have shopped there otherwise. Read more at Bloomberg.