Macy's goes local: Declining sales spur a change in strategy
The buyers lived in Utah and knew the local customers, a majority of whom were Mormon and needed dress clothes for church.
In 1999, the May Co. purchased ZCMI and the stores became Meier & Frank. The buyers lived out of state, and the clothes stocked in Utah stores were similar to those in other May stores throughout the United States. The pattern continued in 2005, when Macy's Inc. purchased the Cottonwood Mall store. The Macy's buyers were based in Seattle.
But beginning Monday, a new management team with sway over what merchandise is stocked in Utah stores will be based in Salt Lake City. The 16 managers are expected to visit customers and sales associates in Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming stores three to four days a week in a newly formed Salt Lake-Intermountain District. Until now, Utah stores have been organized in a regional management model based in Seattle that included hundreds of stores.
The concept is called "My Macy's," with the goal of custom-
"This is a dramatic change," said Barry Arnold, the Cottonwood store manager who previously worked for ZCMI and Meier & Frank. "I've been doing this 39 years. I've never seen something this big."
The changes come as Macy's has struggled with declining sales. Arnold couldn't give sales number for his store, but nationwide Macy's sales are down. Sales in the last quarter of 2007 for the company fell 6.1 percent, compared with the last quarter of 2006. Sales for the entire year in 2007 were down 2 percent. Macy's plans to report its first-quarter 2008 earnings May 14.
Thirty-four offices for the new management team for the Salt Lake-Intermountain District will be on the second-floor of the Cottonwood Mall store. The management team comprises many current Macy's employees. Some of them are local, and others are relocating from San Francisco, New York and Seattle. Macy's Inc., now the nation's largest department-store company, is based in Cincinnati.
Thanks to computerized sales tags, Macy's management for years has analyzed data about sales — what sizes, colors, styles and vendors are most popular. Based on that data, they stock stores accordingly. For instance, at the Cottonwood Mall store, the Macy's-owned INC line and Ralph Lauren's Lauren line have been top sellers in volume. And the Cottonwood Mall Macy's doesn't sell as much children's apparel as stores in the Layton Hills Mall or the University Mall in Orem, but it stocks more upscale misses-sized clothing.
Recent comments
Macy's has turned so many great department stores into a complete...
ms | May 6, 2008 at 3:13 p.m.
This is just another in the long list of failed attempts by macy*...
Drew | May 6, 2008 at 2:49 p.m.
Macy's business model is to insult consumers by "re-educating...
L. Grand | May 5, 2008 at 8:26 p.m.
