Macy’s Closing 100 Stores, Investing in Ecommerce

Macy’s Inc. said Thursday that it will close approximately 100 Macy’s full-line stores and will invest in improvements in ongoing stores and digital vehicles.

The 100 full-line store closures represents 15% of its full-line store footprint. The annual sales volume of the approximately 100 closed locations, net of sales expected to be retained in nearby stores and online, is expected to be roughly $1 billion. According to the company’s fact sheet, Macy’s Inc. did $27.1 billion in sales in fiscal 2015.

The locations of the 100 stores to be closed will be announced at a later date, once the company makes final decisions. They are expected to close after the holiday season.

“The announcements we are making today represent an advancement in our thinking on the role of stores, the quality of the shopping experience we will deliver, and how and where we reinvest in our business for growth,” said Jeff Gennette, Macy’s, Inc. president, who is designated to succeed Lundgren as chief executive officer in the first quarter of 2017. “We will continue to carefully analyze consumer shopping patterns and trends, and use data and customer insights as the basis for innovations to drive the business.”

Stores will remain critical customer touchpoints for Macy’s, along with online shopping and mobile apps, as omnichannel retailing continues to evolve, Macy’s Inc. said in a press release.

In stores, Macy’s will be adding new vendor shops, bringing new businesses onto the sales floors through additional license agreements, increasing the size and quality of staffing through programs such as My Stylist personal shopping services, infusing new technology, accentuating high-potential businesses such as fine jewelry, and creating new in-store events and experiences.

Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury also are reinvesting to maintain exceptional growth in digital sales – transactions generated from websites and apps. The company’s online business has grown at a compounded double-digit rate in each of the past 15 years, placing Macy’s, Inc. sixth on an independently published list of America’s largest-volume online retailers.

To foster continuation of this growth, the company is investing in capacity-building on its sites and apps, improvement in natural language search, faster page loading and simpler procedures for placing and fulfilling orders. Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s buy online pickup in store offering, introduced in 2013, is being refined to improve speed and convenience of the customer experience.

Tim Parry is Multichannel Merchant’s Managing Editor, and the lead programmer for Growing Global.

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