Amazon AMZN is making every effort to bolster its online retail services in a bid to deliver strong holiday performance this year.
This is evident from its recently announced return and refund flexibilities in order to provide a hassle-free and seamless return experience to customers for their holiday shopping.
The company has extended the return window for purchases made within Oct 1 to Dec 31 of this year til Jan 31 of next year.
Further, the extended window is applicable for several items under categories like apparel, shoes, electronics, household items and pet supplies.
Customers seeking to return their ordered items just need to select items from the "Returns & Orders" page on Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) or in the "Your Orders" section of the Amazon app.
Further, the company has kept the option of making label-free and box-free returns.
We note that the latest move remains a major positive as such an easy and flexible return policy enhances the shopping experience of customers.
Hence, the move is likely to drive Amazon’s customer momentum further, which in turn will aid its holiday performance.
Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus
Amazon.com, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Amazon.com, Inc. Quote
More Into the Headlines
In regard to the above-mentioned efforts toward hassle-free returns, the company is providing customers with an option of dropping off the items to be returned at a nearby location. This is a step toward making the returns contactless.
The company has made this return flexibility available at several locations, including more than 500 Whole Foods Market and 75 Amazon physical retail stores such as Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, Amazon Fresh grocery stores and Amazon Go stores.
Further, it is available in more than 1,100 Kohl’s locations and 20,000 UPS Access Point locations across the United States.
Also, customers are allowed to drop off their returns at Amazon Hub Locker and Amazon Hub Locker+ locations.
Solid Holiday Initiatives
We note that the latest move bodes well for the company’s solid efforts this holiday season.
It has recently come up with an option of getting orders delivered at alternative locations to customers who want to keep their gift a surprise from other house members.
Further, the company has made advances in Alexa skills, which will enable customers to sustain their gifts’ surprise.
Additionally, Amazon is providing better safety of the delivered orders with the option of Key In-Garage Delivery, which has now reached more than 4,000 U.S. cities. Prime shoppers are allowed to get their items delivered inside their garages with myQ smart garage door opener.
We believe that these endeavors of Amazon hold promise for a stellar performance in this holiday season.
Moreover, thesewill continue to strengthenits competitive position against retailers like Walmart (NYSE:WMT) WMT, Target TGT and Kroger (NYSE:KR) KR, which are making strong efforts to deliver strong holiday performance.
Nevertheless, Amazon’s vast seller base, ultrafast delivery services, expanding product availability and the latest move will help it morein reaching out to customers during the peak hours of the holiday season.
Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT): Free Stock Analysis Report
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research