Over the last 6 months we have seen industry titans start to fall by the wayside. Companies that have dominated our marketing lives for decades are failing at adapting to the pandemic world. Names like J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus Group, & Pier 1 Imports have all succumbed to marketing uncertainties and ever mounting debt. Some companies, like Macy’s, however are taking a gamble and holding on with their fingertips to what’s left.
Macy’s department stores, just like the other names mentioned before, have taken a monstrous hit this year due to the lack of foot traffic during the pandemic. A quarterly loss of $3.5 billion was reported back in May. However, the company is using these monumental changes to adjust their direction. President Craig Johnson relayed that the future is going to be different but that these decisions should not have been seen as a surprise given the circumstances.
New directions upfront include making radical changes to their staffing and holdings. Starting with letting go 3900 employees that are currently in corporate and management positions so that they can save cash and push for the next step: a focus on personalized online marketing and increasing its digital business.
In the meantime, things are beginning to slowly recover as stores have started reopening. As long as things remain on the same course nation-wide, the company expects a “gradual sales recovery”. These tactics will hopefully lead to a correction in their share prices that have taken an utter nose dive in the past months.
Is this a good direction?
The leadership of Macy’s is banking on one key factor, that there won’t be another shut down while they adjust to their new business normal. If that happens then they will most likely go the same way as their brethren. This might be something that an entrepreneur would want to keep in mind but I would say that you should pay attention to where you are. Texas at the moment is suffering from prolonged affects of the pandemic. Some other major cities are also having issues. If you’re looking to make a decision for your business, definitely take geography into account.
Robert Raney is a geoscientist whose been writing and painting for years to get his creative fix in. While working on his thesis in theoretical planetary physics he was also creating fantastical worlds on paper for fun. He's an at home Texan Houstonite who currently works slinging drinks at a local LGBTQ+ bar in the gayborhood, when not fielding oil & gas jobs that have taken him around the world.
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