360' expert retailer / gmm / dmm / director of stores / store manager / conscious capitalist(social & climate justice) / start-up sustainable brand expertise and relationships (factories) / e-commerce start-up & logistic
Thanks so sharing Bill Buczak . What I found was that in nearly all these photos were sale driven. I don’t remember as kid that things being on sale was a motivating factor. We wanted a very good product that had and inherent value - not because it was on sale. Never. Although I do remember my grandmother cutting out coupons for things at grocery store! I think Macy's needs to bring back the wow factor in four areas 1) The theatre and wow factor of walking in a store and just being like OMG this is a wonderland fun place to shop (so much so you can’t leave without buying increase traffic conversion, product with head quarter brands and then test/pivot with new brands thus become destination for new designers (maybe there is a once a month pitch day - almost like shark tank. Video it and use for content). 2) Cut the bottom 30% skus and invest those funds in the top 20% skus(make sure in stock and add items similar that could also be best sellers) and 10% for newness. 3) Service. There must be staff to help the customers and actually train, develop and coach selling machine while they maintain standard - in 6 months this should start paying for itself 4) Everyone in organization look at things from the customer point of view - give them exactly what they are looking for coupled with newness. Study #socialmedia and copy and paste exact language. In most cases I don’t see “sale” as a want but value yes. I don’t see people talking about or wanting to run in to get 14.99 swim suit. Weekly meetings should always include customer instead. Tell team to spend 30 minutes learning what customers are saying. 5) learn from past data/customer surveys - learn/take immediate action/pivot/start over. I have VERY rarely seen a poor performer out of the gate that gets better so immediately dispense of that inventory and wasted real estate. Fund best seller s. I was in Herald Square the other day and they didn’t have my size in the classic Stan Smith addidas (UK) Limited or my size in best selling Levis’Store style. I would of spent $200 but couldn’t. This must happen 10-20% of the time. Imagine cutting that to 5% that’s minimum 5% increase in revenue and happy not pissed off customers - I was really angry. And, remember each of those customers will tell at least 1 person. Negative advertising versus positive. I am sure Tony Spring new CEO of Macys and team are working on some of these things but each needs a strategy and tactical plan to fix. And, be reported against weekly. #retail #sale #value #brands #merchandising #buying #planning #brands #instock #visualmerchandising #service #newness
Macy’s Advertising Fifty Years Ago in the 1970’s Take a trip down memory lane back to the era when I was a buyer. These ads from the New York Daily News included exciting developments such as stores being open on Sundays! (but only from 12 to 5); exciting new electronic products (microwave ovens, Atari game systems; the Walkman); W-I-D-E men’s suit jacket lapels; and so much more. Enjoy the trip down memory lane! Note: Hit the square box on the right side of the bottom black border to a) increase the size to a readable 8 1/2 x 11 and b) get the option of downloading the document as a PDF file #advertising #macysmemorylane
Client Care/Retail Consultant
3wThe first one was mine -- I was the curtain and drapery buyer at Gimbels and it was such a smash (it did over $100,000 and involved custom product that I worked with the vendors on) that it got me my job at Macy's. Agree with all your comments. As you mention, social media is important, and I am not sure if Macy's is taking full advantage of this as a business and fashion driver. I was disappointed with their first marketing campaign under Tony -- Summer's Greatest Hits. Not sure using a 47-year-old song was the best way to reach their core customer. Time will tell.