Macy’s, Inc. Outlines New Developments in Omnichannel Strategy and Technology
September 15 2014 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s to help launch
Apple Pay; same-day delivery to be piloted in fall 2014; new POS
technology and customer service enhancements in testing; new apps,
web functionality and mobile wallet launched; RFID being expanded
to fashion categories
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) today outlined its latest
advancements in omnichannel strategy and technology as the company
continues to add new dimensions for attracting shoppers and serving
the needs of individual customers.
“Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s remain committed to operating at the
forefront of innovation, as well as fostering a locally relevant
shopping experience in every store. We will continue to test, to
learn, and to proceed aggressively with new ideas that excite our
customers and that make shopping more convenient and fun. Our goal
remains to help our customers shop whenever, wherever and however
they prefer, and to use the entire inventory of the company to
satisfy demand,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy’s, Inc. chairman and
chief executive officer. “We are a multi-faceted retailer with
stores, technology, Internet capability and mobile access that come
together for our customers. They are at the center of all our
decisions, and our ongoing research and development will continue
to help us understand how to personally engage with them.”
Here are examples of emerging omnichannel strategy and
technology at Macy’s, Inc., encompassing stores, online and
mobile:
- Apple
Pay: As announced on Sept. 9, 2014, Macy’s and
Bloomingdale’s stores will be among the first retailers to support
the new Apple Pay™ mobile payment system which will be available
beginning this fall on new iPhone® 6 and iPhone 6 Plus mobile
devices, as well as on the newly unveiled Apple Watch. The
convenience of mobile payment at the point-of-sale is becoming
increasingly interesting to customers, and Apple Pay offers an
opportunity to further simplify the point-of-sale process in Macy’s
and Bloomingdale’s stores in an easy, secure and private manner.
More details will be available in October, when the new service is
scheduled to launch.
- Same Day
Delivery: Macy’s and Bloomingdale's this fall will begin
piloting same-day delivery of products purchased online at
macys.com, bloomingdales.com and on both brands’ mobile-enabled
websites. Macy's will offer same-day delivery to customers in eight
major U.S. markets – Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, San
Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Bloomingdale's
will offer same-day delivery to customers in four major markets -
Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose. Deliveries to
customers will be powered by Deliv, a rapidly growing crowdsourced
same day delivery provider, in collaboration with major mall
owners, including General Growth Properties, Macerich, Simon and
Westfield Corporation. Specific details will be provided as the
pilots are launched. Macy’s and Bloomingdale's same-day delivery is
built on an operational foundation that has enabled Macy’s and
Bloomingdale’s customers to buy online and pickup in store (see
below).
- Buy Online
Pickup in Store (BOPS) Rollout Completed: BOPS,
originally piloted in fall 2013, recently completed its rollout to
all full-line Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s store locations
nationwide.
- Innovation in
Stores Selling Technology: Macy’s is piloting a variety
of selling technology innovations at select stores in Georgia and
New Jersey. These include a new generation of enhanced handheld
point-of-sale devices and tablets designed to improve the in-store
shopping experience by enabling sales associates to engage
customers more effectively, offer merchandise ideas and product
information, and speed transactions. Macy’s is testing
Connect@Macy’s Centers in selected locations as in-store
destinations for online order pickup, with increased associate
staffing to help customers with styling advice and products that
meet their needs. In pilot stores, customers also can shop Macy’s
omnichannel assortment via electronic kiosks and large interactive
“lookbook” displays, and purchase on mobile devices if they prefer.
Those elements of new point-of-sale technology deemed most
successful in serving customer needs are expected to be refined and
rolled out to additional stores.
- Enhanced
Shopping Apps: Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s both have
launched all-new mobile shopping apps for iOS and Android. Enhanced
navigation allows customers to easily and quickly move between
features, reach desired product with fewer clicks, check-out more
quickly, as well as the enhanced ability to manage gift registries.
New improvements to the shopping experience on the mobile apps will
be continually added throughout the fall season and beyond.
- Macy’s Image
Search: The company has begun deploying new technology
concepts created in its San Francisco-based Idea Lab at macys.com
and then built quickly in its lean development organization. Among
them is Macy’s Image Search, an all-new app that allows customers
to search the merchandise assortment on macys.com by taking and
submitting a photograph of any outfit, accessory or merchandise
item they see in daily life. The visual search will take the
customer to similar items on macys.com, where they can be
purchased. Macy’s Image Search is currently available for iPhone
from the Apple App Store, and the functionality will be
incorporated into the primary Macy’s app.
- Macy’s
Wallet/Bloomingdale’s Wallet: Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s
have introduced new mobile wallets. The Macy’s Wallet and
Bloomingdale’s Wallet enables shoppers to easily store and access
offers and coupons virtually. The wallet creates a seamless,
omnichannel checkout experience for customers enrolled in loyalty
rewards programs (Macy’s Star Rewards and Bloomingdale’s
Loyallist), whether in-store, on the go via their mobile devices or
at home through desktop interaction. Storing this information in a
single destination eliminates the need for physical versions of
special discount offers or other shopping incentives. The wallets
are already available to customers with profiles on macys.com
and/or bloomingdales.com, where shoppers can currently access the
functionality via desktop, mobile devices and in-store at point of
sale registers nationwide. In November, the company’s mobile apps
will add the wallet function to complete the omnichannel
experience.
- RFID Yielding
Results and Expanding: Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s are
seeing tangible results from their adoption of radio frequency
identification (RFID) technology that began rolling out in 2011.
Macy’s, Inc. was among the first retailers to implement RFID on a
broad national scale to improve the accuracy of item-level
inventory counting, with an emphasis on basic size-intensive
replenishment categories so the company can ensure that all
appropriate styles and sizes are properly in place on the selling
floor and available for sale. In recent omnichannel pilots in
fashion categories – social dresses, men’s sportcoats and men’s
slacks – Macy’s documented RFID’s ability to significantly improve
sales, gross margins and markdowns by better leveraging inventory
counts that are real-time and accurate. Additional rollout of RFID
tagging in fashion categories is planned for 2015.
- Shopkick: After a test run last year during
the holiday season at Macy’s flagships in New York and San
Francisco, Macy’s and shopkick, one of the most widely used
real-world shopping apps, will expand the use of shopkick’s
shopBeacon™ technology to all Macy’s stores nationwide. In what
will be the largest implementation of iBeacon™ technology at retail
stores to date with more than 4,000 devices, shopBeacons, an
enhanced mobile location-based technology built upon Apple’s
iBeacon Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol, will be placed within
various departments at Macy’s locations, allowing for users of the
shopkick app to get more personalized department-level deals,
discounts, recommendations and rewards. Installation of shopBeacons
is expected to be complete by early fall 2014, with activation
beginning shortly thereafter. Once live, as shoppers enter any
Macy’s nationwide, shopBeacon will remind those shopkick app users
who’ve opted in to receive notifications to open their app. During
the initial phase of the program, customers will receive the
currently available Macy’s promotions, deals or discounts. In early
spring 2015, these Macy’s offers can be even more precisely
tailored by departments in the store. This enhancement in Macy’s
mobile technology arsenal will allow for increased consumer
engagement and promotional and marketing relevancy that will
benefit customers nationwide.
- Smart Fitting
Rooms: Bloomingdale's has introduced smart fitting rooms
in five store locations – Century City, San Francisco and Palo
Alto, CA; Short Hills, NJ; and Garden City, NY. These fitting rooms
have wall-mounted tablets where selling associates and customers
are able to scan merchandise items to view other colors and sizes
available and, in many cases, see additional product information,
product ratings/reviews and recommendations on complementary items
to “complete the look.” Most importantly, customers are able to tap
a button to call for assistance from a sales associate without even
leaving the room. This can be a call for general assistance or a
specific request for another color or size in items they like. The
new Stanford Bloomingdale's store in Palo Alto, CA, will be the
first to have the new technology in ALL Women’s and Men’s Fitting
Rooms.
- Macy’s Digital
Editions: With the launch of Macy’s Fall Fashion direct
mail catalog, macys.com will take the pages of the physical book
and transform them into a virtual diary of special content. Macy’s
Digital Edition will leverage the functionality of the tablet
experience to introduce customers to an enhanced catalog featuring
exclusive editorial content, fashion advice, closer looks at the
product and curated product suggestions. Available at
macys.com/digitaledition, customers will be able to interact with
enhanced content from three of Macy’s Fall Fashion catalogs
including the women’s ready-to-wear/accessories fashion book, the
men’s fashion book and Macy’s Beauty Scene catalog. The virtual
guides will offer consumers the interactive opportunity to learn
about the season’s top trends, get 360 degree views of products,
see fashion tip videos, and create new outfits using the Style
Mixer feature that allows the user to mix and match pieces based on
the initial look. Macy’s Digital Edition will be a seamless,
fun-to-use, interactive experience on tablet, desktop and mobile,
that also allows customers to shop the styles directly from the
virtual catalog.
- Bloomingdale’s
Tabletop Builder: Bloomingdales.com will launch an
online Tabletop Builder on Oct. 1, blending the expertise of its
sales professionals with technology that allows customers to mix
and match dinnerware, flatware and glassware in table settings.
This service enhances the Bloomingdale’s gift registry process on
any device. The Tabletop Builder features 203 dinnerware patterns,
66 glassware patterns and 68 flatware patterns that can be shared
via email or saved for reference. Additionally, table setting
advice will be provided for a variety of home entertaining
situations.
Macy’s, Inc., with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York,
is one of the nation’s premier retailers, with fiscal 2013 sales of
$27.931 billion. The company operates about 840 stores in 45
states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the
names of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, as well as the macys.com and
bloomingdales.com websites. The company operates 13 Bloomingdale’s
Outlet stores. Bloomingdale’s in Dubai is operated by Al Tayer
Group LLC under a license agreement.
All statements in this press release that are not statements of
historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of
Macy’s management and are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those
expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained
in this release because of a variety of factors, including
conditions to, or changes in the timing of, proposed transactions,
prevailing interest rates and non-recurring charges, competitive
pressures from specialty stores, general merchandise stores,
off-price and discount stores, manufacturers’ outlets, the
Internet, mail-order catalogs and television shopping and general
consumer spending levels, including the impact of the availability
and level of consumer debt, the effect of weather and other factors
identified in documents filed by the company with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. In light of these risks and uncertainties,
readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by applicable
law, Macy’s disclaims any obligation to update its forward-looking
statements for any reason.
(NOTE: Additional information on Macy’s, Inc., including past
news releases, is available at www.macysinc.com/pressroom).
Macy’s, Inc.Media - Jim Sluzewski, 513-579-7764Investor – Matt
Stautberg, 513-579-7780
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