Federated absorbs Direct; catalog, site return home

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/17/2003 12:00:00 AM

CINCINNATI —

Federated Department Stores has realigned the Bloomingdale's By Mail catalog and the macy's.com e-commerce site — currently under the Federated Direct division — back to their respective namesake divisions, as of March 1.

The move is to further expand and build the power of the brands, the company said.

"The Macy's and Bloomingdale's brands are among the strongest in retailing, and we have been encouraged by the progress that has been made in effectively positioning the direct-to-customer extensions of these national brands under the umbrella of a division specifically dedicated to this objective," said Terry Lundgren, Federated's president and coo. "Having established this strong foundation, we now believe there is greater potential in more closely aligning these direct-to-customer channels with the marketing strategies of the department stores."

On March 1, Bloomingdale's By Mail and its staff of 75 will be integrated into Bloomingdale's, where it began catalog operations in 1982. Franz Weiglein, president of Bloomingdale's Direct, will report to Bloomingdale's Ed Holman, president, and Tony Spring, executive vp of marketing, sales promotion and creative services.

Kent Anderson, president, macy's.com, which launched in 1996, will report to Michael Osborn, president, Macy's West. The site's approximately 100 employees, with 60 based here and responsible for merchandising, planning and creative functions, and the balance in San Francisco, responsible for product and site management, technology support and marketing, will be unaffected.

Fulfillment, finance and human resources functions of Federated Direct, including the bridal registry, will also be realigned with the brands and within Federated to best support ongoing operations.

Federated Direct, founded in 1999, underwent several changes a year ago, including the elimination of the commerce portion of bloomingdales.com, while macy's.com shrunk several of its categories, such as apparel, and expanded others, like home.