I was heartened by a recent Detroit News article that reported on a new Macy’s initiative called MyMacy’s, which allows managers to customize merchandise in specific stores based on customer request and market demand.
It’s this kind of nimbleness and flexibility that is at the heart of some of the principles of Enterprise Loyalty we discuss in our new journal, Enterprise Loyalty in Practice. That’s because loyalty is not just a function of the marketing department. Building loyalty should ultimately become a function across the organization, including merchandising. And offering customization and flexibility to managers and store staff gives customers what they want and when they want it — and common sense says that can increase loyalty to your brand.
According to the Detroit News piece, the result has indeed been stronger sales: “Sales at stores open at least a year have been up every month since December 2009, about 18 months after Macy’s started the program nationally. Same-store sales rose 4.8 percent in September and hit a high of a 10.8 percent hike in March.”
Not all retailers are ready to offer this kind of merchandising freedom in specific stores, but in our opinion it is a goal to strive for — it will keep customers coming back and offer more of a sense of flexibility and nimbleness that will be required for large retailers to compete in a still-soft economy.
What do you think of the MyMacy’s program? Is this type of initiative something your company has considered? If not, what are the things that keep your company from moving in that direction?
