Bon-Ton Struggles: Time to Ditch the Amazon Lockers?

It’s no secret that The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. has struggled in recent years. Operating at a loss since 2012, saddled with $800+ million in debt, and faced with plummeting same store sales, the Wall Street Journal reported recently that the company has hired restructuring firm PJT Partners and that the bankruptcy option is on the table. New President and CEO William Tracy has a lot on his plate, but one move that needs to be made is to rid his stores of those rarely-publicized Amazon Lockers tucked away in the back next to the restrooms and customer service desk.

Recent Chain Store Guide market research on Amazon Lockers (which you can read more here – and here) shows that of Bon-Ton’s 260 department stores, 44 locations contain Amazon Lockers, including Bon-Ton, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman and Herberger’s stores. And of the 6,100 US apparel and department store chains in CSG’s database, The Bon-Ton is the only apparel retailer or department store that currently partners with Amazon in its locker program.

I don’t want to put too fine a point on this, especially as Kohl’s announced last week that it is expanding its partnership with Amazon by introducing a new (and also questionable) “Amazon Returns at Kohl’s” program in the Chicago and Los Angeles markets. In an attempt to boost foot traffic, Kohl’s will package and ship all Amazon returns from its stores for Amazon customers. Really.

Yes, it’s complicated. Bon-Ton’s Amazon deal almost certainly included promises of revenue to be gained with a Bon-Ton storefront and Lightning Deals on Amazon. And Bon-Ton needs to look for solutions wherever it can find them. But the move, especially with its lack of marketing and publicity, seems like a tepid effort better consigned to the past as the company explores a more robust omni-channel strategy.

Chain Store Guide’s Apparel Store Locations Database and Department Store Locations Database contain a combined 71,000 geocoded store locations that our clients and customers rely on for their site selection, competitive analysis, mapping, merchandising, marketing and logistics needs. We can now also provide geocoded location data, street addresses and company listings for all 2,044 Amazon Lockers.