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Another reason for the implosion in US department stores was the poor decision about twenty years ago to make all stores owned by Federated Department Stores (w
by jhbadger 5y ago
Another reason for the implosion in US department stores was the poor decision about twenty years ago to make all stores owned by Federated Department Stores (which included Macy's, May, Marshall Field, Hecht's, and others in different parts of the country) to be rebranded all as "Macy's". That may have saved them a bit of money, but it destroyed consumer loyalty. People from the Chicago area had fond memories of Marshall Field -- they had no connection to NYC's Macy's. Same thing for Hecht's in the Washington DC area and others.
- hakfoo 5y agoI wonder if that also garbled market position messaging. I seem to recall the store that became Macy's here was called three or four different names in the last 20 or 30 years. Back when it was Broadway or Robinson-May, the store was in the "higher half" of the market, closer to Dillard's than Penney's, but now the gap is smaller. They can't rely on the (abandoned) name and positioning, and they didn't do a good job of positioning themselves as premium after the rebrand.