Macy's Retail Industry

Dillard 's finds itself with a multitude of competitors in the retail space--Nordstrom, Saks, Macy 's, JCPenney. Dillard 's reported a revenue of $1.46 billion for the financial quarter ending in October 2014, Dillard 's saw a noticeable shift, nearly doubling its market share among the Macy 's typical shoppers in the nine months after stores shut their doors,” said Sarah Spagnolo of Foursquare. She noted that Dillard 's saw an 88% increase in market share. A Dillard 's spokesman said the company does not disclose revenue from its e-commerce initiatives. According to Thomson Reuters, the company is expected to report a revenue of $2.08 billion for the fourth quarter, and $6.65 billion in revenue for the financial year. This strong point says that Dillard 's is achieving a high turnover revenue in retailer market recently. According to Thomson Reuters, the company is expected to report a revenue of $2.08 billion for the fourth quarter, and $6.65 billion in revenue for the financial year. Dillard is a younger brand than Macy, Nordstrom, but Dillard 's has taken a successful step to create a good significant position in customer mind in a short time.

With the economic downtown, this may affect sales for the company as consumers’ discretionary spending become less and less. Macy’s also faces intense competition which is inherent to the retail and department stores industry.

Due to the economy downturn period, Macy’s and many other retailers were suffering. Fortunately, Macy’s has chosen the beneficial marketing strategy to fit the objective of business. This paper will analyze the company’s situation from its financial aspect, industry aspect, the competitive part and Macy’s marketing strategies to conclude that Macy’s could have stable profit in the next three to five years.

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.

"We think of Macy’s today as the Great American Department Store because we have kept alive our heritage while also changing for the future, " (2016, Lundgren). When Macy’s first started, no one would have guessed that it would become one of the world’s largest retail operations in the world. The success of the store lands on many people’s hands. If they know how to work the system, they can help the company grow. Some of the people who are involved in making the company successful are first line mangers, even the top managers are involved. In this case they didn’t work very good making decisions which led Macy’s to go down as a company.

Given the market sentiments prevailing in the market, I believe the stock price of Macy's Inc. will be extremely higher than it is today. This notion hinges primarily on the low valuation placed on Macy's stock. Currently, the stock is trading at a P/E ratio of 12 with the market historically trading at a ratio of 13-16. With the significant growth prospects of Macy in regards to its retail franchise, I believe the stock in undervalued relative to the market. Furthermore, the company just released first quarter earnings that were 38% higher than those of a year earlier. This indicates increased consumer sentiments in regards to both shopping and purchasing goods at Macys Inc.

The article claims that, the reasons for the decline in John Lewis’ profits were as a direct result of retail competition and higher employee salaries. This brought about the fall in pre-tax profits for the six months leading to July 2016 and are expected to remain under pressure in spite of its department stores reporting a rise in sales during the half year, with the exception of Waitrose supermarkets.

Although, we were asked to only keep track of the stock for a couple of weeks, I looked at the stocks part history to make sure I chose an appropriate choice. While mostly all my peers chose Apple or Google, I chose Macy’s since they’re a huge company with stores all over the world. I made the mistake to judge the stock from a month’s worth of data. During the month of July, the stocks were doing good and I chose 220 stocks at the price of $22.35, which I thought was a good deal. During the month of September which was the month I started checking on the stock, the value dropped immensely. On September 18, each stock was worth $20.10, with 220 stocks, the price was $495 than what was originally ‘payed’ for.

In view of the financial statements attached to this paper, Kohl’s acquired debt increased both in dollars and as a percentage of sales. Gross margin as a percentage of sales was 36.4% in 2014, much lower in 2013. The merchandise margin increased, but was offset by higher shipping losses attributable to growth in the number of on-line orders. Selling, general and administration expenses both increased in dollars and as a percentage of sales. There are numerous factors that impact the success of department stores such as, political and

Macy’s Inc. has a very strong network all over in the United States under its two main brand names but the company has very weak geographic presence. All of its business functions are in the United States. Any changes in the economic, political, legal, and social framework of the country will have direct impact on the business operations of Macy’s Inc. and its profitability will suffer many folds.

As one of the major retailers in the United States, JCPenney has 1,104 department stores in 49 states and Puerto Rico as of February 2, 2013. The key success of its business is tremendously depending on the sales performance. However, the retail business is highly competitive, with low barriers to entry and low profit margin. Due to large sales plunge in 2012, the company is in financial trouble. The thorough analysis of JCPenney’s financial statements is vital to judge the future performance of its business.

To better understand their declining performance, the company then launched an internal review of their operations and determined that the main reasons for their recent struggles were: a decline in department store sales, the rise of fast fashion retailers, the company’s own out-of-date supply chain model, and that the company’s focus was diluted over too many brands and too many initiatives. (“The

Not to mention laying off 4,000 workers after the holiday season, which will make profits decrease by 5 percent in November and December. In light of unfortunate sales in 2015, Macy’s is making adjustments to become more efficient and productive in their operations. According to Olivia Lowenberg’s article in the Christian Science Monitor, most of the locations where Macy’s is closing will lose consumer dollars for their surrounding stores. As a matter of fact, Macy’s stores declined in value nearly 50 percent in the year of 2015.According to Karien Hoguet, Macy’s chief financial officer, most of the stores are being closed are underperforming meaning that these stores are not receiving as much income as they should be (Lowenberg). In August 2016, Macy’s announced that its closing 100 more stores ,which represents 15 percent of all Macy’s stores nationwide.

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.

In this paper I will discuss Macy’s Incorporated by analyzing their business level strategies to determine which I think is the most important to their long term success and if I think it is a good choice. I will analyze their corporate level strategies to determine which I think is the most important and whether or not I believe it is a good choice. I will analyze the competitive environment to determine the corporations’ most significant competitor and compare the two companies’ strategies at each level and evaluate which company I think is most likely to succeed in the long term. Once the