Macy’s reported a -3.6% decline in comparable-sales for the entire chain and a -2.3% comp-store decline for Macy’s 350 go-forward stores. As shown in the below table, traffic was consistently down for all of Macy’s doors.
Given elevated inventory levels, customer demand was weaker (starting mid-June and aligning with Placer traffic) and more abrupt than the company could pivot and cut orders. CEO Tony Spring said, “We entered the second quarter with an expectation that discretionary spend would remain stable, reflecting a resilient but choiceful consumer. As the quarter progressed, our customer became more discriminating, which we attribute to ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and an increasingly complex new cycle...We aligned our assortments and shifted our marketing calendar to better balance value and fashion. We enhanced our promotions and delivered more targeted personalized messages across categories and brands.” At brand Macy’s, men’s apparel, handbags, and home were the weakest. None of these categories are high priorities for the consumer at the moment. Spring continued, “Our challenge is not just to have the lowest price. Our challenge is to create a compelling reason for the customer to buy at Macy's, Bloomingdale's and bluemercury, and we have that in our inventory composition. We have that in the amount of newness that we flow to our stores and to our site. We have that in the exclusivity that we offer with private brands.”
Comparable-store sales for the "First 50" locations--many of which have had the “Bold New Chapter” upgrades and enhancements--increased +1.0%. Using an approximation of the 350 go-forward stores, overall traffic was down -4.8%; however, of the 350, 72 produced gains; overall, that cohort produced a +5.0% increase in traffic overall. Additionally, 129 locations produced a more moderate -3% decline in traffic, while the remaining 149 posted a sharper rate of decline. On the First 50, Spring noted, “Initiatives at these locations continue to gain traction and include: Improving the customer experience through focused staffing in key departments such as shoes, handbags, ready-to-wear as well as fitting room and checkout; enhancing merchandise offerings to emphasize freshness, relevance and inspiration with a focus on variety rather than redundancy by editing existing assortment and adding new brands, modernizing our visual presentations and offering unique store level activations and community events. First 50 customer satisfaction is growing. Net Promoter Scores were 600 basis points above last year and over 200 basis points better than other go-forward locations with improvements in availability of salespeople, quick and easy checkout and neat and clean stores. These locations also had higher traffic and conversion relative to other go-forward locations. And all merchandise categories outperformed with shoes, handbags, men's and kids apparel as well as women's ready-to-wear, registering the most improvement.” 100 new locations of the 350 go-forward stores will start their conversion to the "First 50 plan” this fall. On the non go-forward stores, 55 are to be closed soon, likely in January of 2025.
