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Best Practices: My Macy’s Localization Initiative

In our regular Best Practices Marketing to Hispanics feature (every Tuesday on www.portada-online.com), today we take a look at Macy's marketing practices. The below text is based on a presentation by Krystin Page, Macy's Multicultural Marketing Director, at our Fourth Annual Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference ("Connecting National Brands to Local Audiences" last month.

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In our regular Best Practices Marketing to Hispanics feature (every Tuesday on www.portada-online.com), today we take a look at Macy's marketing practices. The below text is based on a presentation by Krystin Page, Macy's Multicultural Marketing Director, at our Fourth Annual Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference ("Connecting National Brands to Local Audiences") last month.

My Macy’s Rolled Out

After initial pilots in 20 markets in 2008, Macy’s rolled out the My Macy’s localization initiative across the country in 2009. In doing so, they created eight stores regions and 49 new districts (for a total of 69 districts). Macy’s added human intelligence – including new district merchants and planners – in each district in a manner that enables the company to tailor merchandise assortments and the shopping experience by location. My Macy’s is proving itself to be a powerful competitive differentiator and driver of sales. In 2009, all of the company’s top 12 markets in sales growth were from the initial My Macy’s pilot districts.

 

Macy’s Organization Unified

Concurrent with the rollout of My Macy’s, the company migrated from an operating division structure to one unified organization for all of Macy’s.

 Eliminated redundancy in central offices and instituting consistency in its stores.

 Able to act more quickly, sharpen execution and partner more effectively with vendors and business partners while reducing administrative expense.

 

Developing Customer-Centric Approaches: The True Total Approach

Macy's analyzes customer behavior data collected in partnership with the consumer insights firm Dunnhumby USA, of which Macy’s is the exclusive department store client. Macy’s has begun to model the shopping patterns of Macy’s customers for better serve EACH consumer’s individual needs. This led to systematic experimentation and testing of new marketing approaches in 2010 and the years ahead. Identifying and acting on consumer insights is integral to their determination to place the customer at the center of their decision-making.

Other elements of the true total approach include:

– Understand the customer at the granular level (the store level using various customer matrixes).

– Sweeping generalizations of their customers are no longer required.

– Big opportunity to exploit big ideas by door.

 

Business Strategy Refreshed

Macy’s ended 2009 by updating its business strategy and brand strategy to guide the growth in sales and profitability planned for 2010 and beyond. In doing so, the company honed its focus on specific metrics. Macy’s refreshed its four strategic priorities – Assortment, Value, Shopping Experience and Marketing – with a new generation of tactics. It’s working to create a culture in the organization that embraces innovation and testing an inclusive work environment, the development of people, and collaboration internally and externally.

– Segmented customer by shopping behavior.
– Direct mail books begin to be individualized.
– Events emerging from communities

 

The Hispanic Opportunity

Macy’s Hispanic customer base continues to grow and currently amounts to 17% of the retailers customer base. Its share has increased by 1.1% from 2005 and represents $ 1.9 billion in apparel sales. Macy's expects the Hispanic customer base to exceed 20% of its total customer base within the next 10 years.

Hispanic Marketing

What Macy’s is doing today (in-language)

– TV is still King (National)
– Radio (National)
– Magazines (National/Regional)
– Newspaper (creative is multicultural)
– Digital/ Social media
– Diversity Teams/External Affairs
– Public Relations
– Cause Marketing
– Mexico initiatives
Hispanic Heritage Month- National Event with My Macy’s Local Touch Points

Marketing

My Macy’s

TV is still King (National)

Culturally relevant life coaches by region

Radio (National) and event radio

Culturally relevant food

Magazines (National/Regional)

Market specific AHA representatives

Newspapers

Family oriented events

Digital/ Social media

Bi-lingual in some markets

Diversity Teams/ External Affairs

Children focused booths

Public Relations

 

Cause Marketing

 

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