Problem Statement1
A small brick-and-mortar business which offers discounted designer merchandise for men and women, is seeking to develop a more customer-focused business through e-commerce. This business has only a few employees, with a basic website consisting of a few products, and customers are only able to purchase merchandise in-store. This business faces the problem of not being able to reach its customers as easily as its competitors.
Two Technologies
Social computing is a combination of social behavior and information systems to create value for businesses. It improves collaboration and interaction among people and employees and between businesses and customers. Social computing in businesses involves the delivery of electronic commerce activities and transactions through social computing. With social commerce, it allows customers to actively participate in the marketing and selling of products and services in online communities.
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MST provides an integrated line of high-performance retail, electronic commerce, and data warehouse systems for use at all levels within Macy's. MST uses a mix of Internet, wireless, client/server, midrange, and mainframe technologies to meet Macy's business needs. Macy’s was name “Mobile Retailer of the Year” in 2014. Macy’s uses their mobile technology to attract young consumers to their fashion. “With bricks-and-mortar retail continuing to experience declining foot traffic, Macy’s fought back in 2014 by embracing image recognition, beacons, mobile payments and event-driven mobile commerce, bringing added convenience and excitement to the shopping experience in a way few other retailers can match.” (Tode, 2017). Macy’s also uses mobile payments to make shopping more convenient for their consumers. Macy’s also used a mobile access program which connected music, celebrities, and fashion to consumers through
The purpose of this paper is to discuss Case #6 in the student text regarding The Grand General Store.
The companies that were chosen for a company analysis include Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Burlington. Since the retail industry has been lagging behind lately, these companies will help determine the prospective financial investment in the retail industry. As Macy’s as our primary company, we chose Kohl’s and Burlington to be the two comparative companies. These companies are comparable due to the same SIC code of 5311 in the subgroup of department stores. These companies offer similar products and services with little differentiation between the three.
The following report provides details of the Macy's top directives, who are in charge of the management of the company. Macy’s operates in a functional organizational structure being since January 2004, Terry J. Lundgren, the Chairman of the Board; also, he has been since February 2003 the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Since January 2003, William S. Allen has the position of Chief Human Resources Officer, and the President of the Company since March 2014 is Jeffrey Gennette (FORM 10-K, 2016).
The annual report and 10-K filings were obtained from macys.com. The financial statements included in the annual report are as follows: consolidated statements of operations, consolidated balance sheets, consolidated statements of changes in shareholders’ equity, consolidated statement of cash flows, and notes to consolidated financial statements. In the report, Macy’s Inc. recognizes several competitors which are Bed Bath & Beyond, Belk, Bon Ton, Burlington Coat Factory, Dillard’s, Gap, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Limited, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks, Sears, Target, TJ Maxx and Wal-Mart. The top three
Critically analyze the organization from the systems approach. You should consider the inputs, transformation and output elements of the operation and consider how the system creates value.
Evaluate the company's past performance marketing their product using the six pillars of the marketing code of ethics honesty, responsibility, caring, respect, fairness, and citizenship.
it is important to identify key strengths of the company over upcoming threats and weak points. Macy’s differentiate itself from competition with upscale “Celebrity” brand exclusivity, merchandise based on local preferences, and unique store design atmosphere. Based on analysis performed the company weighted strategy is to move towards the online and technology advances with maintaining Macy’s upscale storefront culture, integrating new product offerings with revising promotions to satisfy its target market and expanding operations to a new markets with present demand. From opportunities analysis strategy can be divided in three fragments
Unlike Starbucks, Macy’s is not doing very well, as evidenced by the fact they announced last month the impeding closure of 68 stores (Peterson, 2017). The company has been struggling for a few years with the growth of the internet and online businesses such as Amazon making their brick and mortar stores impractical in modern times. While the number of stores may not seem like as much of a problem as it is, as other companies have had to close down more in recent years or go out of business in general, this is a symptom of larger problems in both the company and the industry.
Macy's Inc. is one of the nation's largest and well known department store chains. Started over 150 years ago, Macy's has continually generated excellent returns for its shareholders and employees. Currently, in the midst of a global recession, Macy's has generated huge profits with same store sales increasing 5.3% year to date. In 2012 same store sales increased 4.6% in the month of February alone (Macy's Inc., 2012). In fact, throughout the duration of 2012, Macy's is projecting even larger profits for its underlying business operations. Even though Macy's has experienced success with both its assortments and brand, its competitors haven't faired so well. Sears, due in part to part to a lackluster holiday season, has been forced to close nearly 120 locations to generate excess liquidity in an effort to shore up its balance sheet (Isidore, 2011).Other competitors who cater specifically to the middle class consumer have also lost significant amounts of market share as consumers trade down due to the economy. This performance is primarily due to the core functions and operations of the business. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Macy's excels at these forms of management, which has allowed the company to perform at a higher level relative to its peers in the industry.
A business model is an important and integral part of the business a strategy of any firm whether big or small. The way a business model is developed determines and indicates the values, ethics and principles on the lines of which the business at large will be operating. It also indicates how the business is going to function and covers various internal and external dimensions of a business and the organization as a whole.
Macy’s Inc. competes with other major players in the Department Store Retail Industry as well as with discounter, luxury stores, specialty stores, mail order and pure play internet retailers. Key competitors include Sears, J. C. Penny, Kohl’s, Nordstrom,
The development of the Internet and more specifically the business website has seen brand recognition by consumers escalate to never before seen heights. Because of this brand recognition, it has become important for businesses to design their websites to reflect their overall marketing strategies. This is especially important in the retail world. All retail businesses have a similar overall marketing strategy of generating sales and retaining the customer for future sales. Most of the retail giants still greatly rely on the success of their brick and mortar stores to turn a profit. However, internet sales for these brick and mortar stores have increasingly risen over the last few years to compete with the retail stores like Amazon that are strictly internet based businesses. Brick and mortar retail stores, such as Walmart, Target, Kmart, and Nordstrom, have each designed their websites to reflect the overall retail marketing strategy as well as the individual marketing strategies that have made their brick and mortar businesses successful.
Smart phones are allowing customers to shop with their phones inside stores; credit cards are accepted via phones vs. cash registers. Technology brings online shopping vs. in store shopping. And, advertising is popping up on smart phones as electronic messages as customers shop based on their location. Service is defiantly the key to keep a customer coming into a department store.
Macy’s Inc. is one of the oldest enterprises in the United States, belonging to the department stores industry. (Hoovers.com) It is a national brand, owning 850 department stores. During the development of the company, there had several key decisions that were beneficial for the company. However, in recent years, the competitions in department stores industry become more and more serious.
The strength of a claim is in the empirical evidence presented and this case study “The Mall of America” (Mall) is no different. The Si-Minn Developers Limited Partnership (Si-Minn LP) defense and disclosure of their decision to purchase the material interest in MOAC LP are reflective of their fiduciary duty to Melvin Simon & Associate stakeholders their parent company. On the other hand, Triple Five Minnesota Inc. (Triple Five) indifference in the investment returns was reflected in their tacit indolent response to the initial offering by “Teachers”, confirming that Si-Minn LP acted in the beneficial best interest of both the seller (Teachers), and partnership with Triple Five in spite of their dissatisfaction.