Winn-Dixie may cash in on Web returns

The supermarket considers hosting a start-up company that would handle product returns.

By YILU ZHAO

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2000

For all its convenience, shopping online has an Achilles' heel: returning that dress that doesn't fit or that toaster that burns your bread. You have to re-package your online acquisition, take it to the post office, pay the postage and hope that the product arrives in pristine condition so you can get a full refund.

Soon, though, you may be able to drop off your unwanted item when you pick up your milk at Winn-Dixie and get the refund right away.

The Return Store, a start-up based in New Jersey, expects to set up return service at most of the Winn-Dixie supermarkets in Florida by the end of the year, said the new company's spokesman, Richard Gersh. Operating from the supermarket chain's customer service counters, the Return Store will send the items to the Internet firms' designated locations.

Winn-Dixie is the first major supermarket chain to strike a deal with the new company, which is negotiating with other companies nationwide. The company is still months away from operation.

Gersh said a number of "traditional, regular online stores" have expressed interest in making use of the Return Store, but he wouldn't reveal names.

Winn-Dixie, the 1,100-store chain headquartered in Jacksonville, has 21 stores in Pinellas County, 18 in Hillsborough County and 20 on the North Suncoast.

The idea of making the neighborhood market a link to cyberspace isn't altogether original. In Japan, online returns are handled at 7-Eleven convenience stores, and the chain is testing a U.S. version in Dallas, its home base.

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