You can now order just about anything online, but there are some things that can’t be delivered in a box on your doorstep. If department stores and their business model are going to survive, experts say, they need to change their offerings and sell more products that can’t be purchased online. [More]
department stores
Fashion Brands Don’t Want To Go To Macy’s, Either
By 8.12.16
We’ve been discussing lately about how customers don’t seem to want to shop in department stores, which means that malls don’t want or need them to draw customers. It turns out that brands have soured on department stores too, since having items inevitably end up on sale cheapens their brands everywhere. Where does that leave department stores? Closing a lot of stores and figuring out how to go forward. [More]
JCPenney Sales Increase Slightly, Still Losing Money
By 8.12.16
When higher-end department stores like Macy’s and even Nordstrom are struggling, it’s understandable that JCPenney might have another tough quarter trying to bring in new customers, get the ones it has to come in and spend more often, and find things to sell that customers can’t just go buy online instead. [More]
Macy’s Closing 100 Stores In “Re-Creating” Its Portfolio, Attempt To Find Profits
By 8.11.16
Seven months after Macy’s announced it would close 40 stores this past spring, the department store has outlined a plan to “re-create” its portfolio by shuttering 100 additional stores. [More]
Michael Kors Pulling Back On Department Store Presence In Effort To Polish Brand’s Image
By 8.10.16
Yet another designer brand has decided to pull back on its department store presence in an attempt to polish up its image in the eyes of consumers and boost flagging sales. Michael Kors announced it will no longer accept coupons for its merchandise sold in department stores, and will be pulling back from that category in general come next year. [More]
Coach Will Close 250 Of Its North American Department Store Locations
By 8.9.16
Much like its fellow luxury retail brands, Coach has been trying to turn around its struggling business in recent years. Today, the company said its efforts have actually paid off, and that sales are picking up. But despite that, Coach says it’s time to cut loose about 25% of its department store locations in North America, so it can continue to climb its way back up the retail ladder. [More]
Department Stores Don’t Draw Customers, Malls Don’t Want ‘Em Anymore
By 7.11.16
What actually draws you to the mall, when you go there? A generation ago, you might have headed to your nearest mall to buy a refrigerator from Sears or a dress from JC Penney. Today, though, customers are less interested in hulking department stores, and more likely to visit their local mall to have dinner at a Cheesecake Factory or shop at an Apple Store, and skip the department store. Mall owners are noticing. [More]
New Macy’s CEO Tasked With Saving Company, Entire Idea Of Department Stores
By 6.24.16
Can department stores become relevant again? Figuring that out will be the job of the next CEO of Macy’s, Jeff Gennette. He currently serves as the company’s president, and will take over as CEO in early 2017. His job will be to get the company through a tough period as middle-class shoppers seem to be questioning the whole department store business model and hitting off-price and discount stores instead. [More]
Report: Struggling Neiman Marcus Sniffing Around For A Buyer
By 6.20.16
It looks like peddling $425,000 Oscars-themed luxury packages isn’t doing much for Neiman Marcus’ bottom line: a new report says the luxury department store company, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman, is looking around for potential buyers or an investor with deep pockets, to help it get out from a $5 billion debt load. [More]
TJ Maxx Parent Company Considering Opening Thousands More Stores
By 5.18.16
While other retailers are busy shutting down stores and trying to figure out how to grab a chunk of that online shopping business, one chain is considering beefing up its bricks-and-mortar presence. TJX Companies Inc., the parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and other off-price stores, may open thousands more stores worldwide. [More]
Report: JCPenney Slashed Workers’ Hours, Took Other Drastic Measures To Cut Costs
By 5.6.16
According to a new report, JCPenney had to work fast to cut costs recently after sales were unexpectedly sluggish last month. Some of the drastic measures the department store took included telling managers to cut workers’ hours, freeze overtime, and ban store markdowns. [More]
Macy’s Will Have Fewer Promotions With Coupons, Lower Clearance Prices
By 2.26.16
There’s a subset of department store customers who love playing coupon games, clipping bonus coupons from flyers and newspapers to get an extra percentage off items that are already on sale. Macy’s, long a great place to shop if you love to stack coupons on top of clearance sales, will stop that practice in favor of simply marking their clearance items down more in the first place. [More]
JCPenney Wants To Bring Current Customers Back More Often, Maybe Also Find New Ones
By 2.24.16
Marvin Ellison, the CEO of JCPenney, understands something important about the retailer that his predecessor Ron Johnson didn’t: they’re never going to attract affluent customers, and that’s okay. “We can convince ourselves that our core customers are a more affluent demographic, but really, they’re not,” he told Fortune magazine in a profile this week. [More]
Rent The Runway’s ‘Exclusive’ Dresses Turn Up Much Cheaper In Retail Stores
By 12.22.15
Rent the Runway, a company that lets customers rent pricey outfits for special events, now rents out their own brands alongside designer clothes and accessories. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there is something wrong with promoting those brands as if they’re from noted designers, assigning them made-up retail values. Even worse: some of those “exclusive” items can be found on department store websites, where you can buy them for less than it would cost to rent them. [More]
Lord & Taylor Launching Yet Another Off-Price Chain
By 10.26.15
Earlier this year, we learned that Macy’s was opening its own off-price stores called Macy’s Backstage, and Kohl’s is opening an off-price store called Off Aisle by Kohl’sto unload returned merchandise. Now Lord & Taylor wants to join the party with their own off-price store, called Find @ Lord & Taylor. [More]
Amazon’s Apparel Sales Could Surpass Macy’s By 2017
By 7.20.15
While Amazon used to be the site where you bought affordable books, CDs, DVDs, and electronics, the online retailer is quickly gaining ground as a seller of designer apparel and accessories. [More]
Macy’s Customer Accused Of Biting Employee Over Price Dispute
By 6.26.15
When you have a question about the price tag on a department store item, you should raise your concerns with store employees. You should not yell at them or curse them out, and you should definitely not become violent. A Macy’s customer in California was arrested after she allegedly did all of those things, then bit a loss prevention officer on the leg during a price dispute. [More]
JCPenney’s New CEO Plans To Reuse His Home Depot Strategy
By 6.11.15
JCPenney hasn’t had a chief executive officer since chairman Myron Ullman sacked re-vamper Ron Johnson back in 2013. Last fall, they found a candidate who was up for the challenge: Marvin Ellison, who was in charge of Home Depot’s stores in the United States, and worked for Target before that. He reported to work as president and CEO-designee in November 2014, and takes over on August 1. This week, he spoke at an investment banking conference about his future plans for the company. [More]
