New York – Macy’s is casting a wider net to capture consumers where they’re doing most of their shopping – online and off-mall.
During Macy’s Inc.’s Q2 call earlier this week, chairman and CEO Jeff Gennette outlined three prongs of the initiative:
Macy’s Marketplace: The curated digital marketplace will launch in the coming weeks with an assortment of products in home, kids, baby and maternity, beauty and health, and toys and electronics. It is a key piece in the strategy to grow Macy’s Inc.’s digital business to $10 billion in annual sales.
Macy’s Marketplace will expand the company’s assortment in existing categories and brands and will also introduce a range of new categories from select third-party merchants. Marketplace products will be available on both macys.com and bloomingdales.com.
Replacement markets: Macy’s is thinking about how to hang on to brick-and-mortar customers in markets after it shutters a mall anchor. The company is taking its first run at the idea in St. Louis, where it is pulling out of the Chesterfield Mall in October and opening a Market by Macy’s in a thriving strip center two miles away. “We’re going to see how that works, and we’re going to be testing that,” said Gennette.
The suburban St. Louis location is one of four new off-mall, small-format stores opening this fall – including the first combo Market by Macy’s and Macy’s Backstage store. The pilot two-fer concept will open in the Chicagoland suburb of Evergreen Park, Ill.
Fill-in markets: More small-format Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s markets will be coming to zip codes where the company does a strong digital business. Starting next year, the company will ramp up its entry into such new markets.
“We look forward to sharing the findings in the future as they develop,” Gennette told investors.
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