My Macy’s to revitalize textiles

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/13/2008 1:31:00 PM

Cincinnati – Macy’s poorly performing home textiles category is in for an infusion of new life under the department store chain’s new “My Macy’s” localized initiative, which envisions big plans for a new fashion approach come spring.

During today’s second-quarter earnings conference call Macy’s Inc. evp and cfo Karen Hoguet said that the 850-unit retailer’s regional planning managers assigned under My Macy’s have just reviewed the private brand offerings for spring.

“I am told they provided very specific data and input on color palettes and fashion desires [for home textiles] in different parts of the country, and the merchants believe that this input will clearly help drive the business in the spring season,” Hoguet said.

My Macy’s launched late this past spring and has thus far focused on infrastructure and getting new posts settled and trained. Hoguet said that while the retailer can boast “some quick wins in the regions,” it is still “too early for the changes to be big enough to move the needle. But we are very excited about the structure and our increased focus on trying to meet local needs and desires.”

To aid the effort, Macy’s recently rolled out a new tool to aid communications among the four regions and corporate, and so far each of the regions have inputted more than 1,700 requests for store-related improvements. More than half of them relate to future on-orders, given strong sell-throughs in a particular category, department or items. About a third of the requests relate to changes in assortments, such as adding a vendor or category, adjusting the style mix or modifying replenishment parameters.

Overall, Hoguet said most of the requests are “reasonable” and only very few are being declined. And while no single request is admittedly “big enough by itself to move the needle, commutatively they will start to begin to matter.”

“We do expect to begin seeing improved trends in the My Macy’s districts this fall, which represent about 20% of total Macy’s Inc. sales,” she continued. “But the impact really will not be significant until next year.”