As new Macy’s CEO Tony Spring tries to simultaneously remake his stagnant department store company while fighting off barbarians at the gate who want to break it up into bite-size real estate pieces, he’s no doubt taking a look at all kinds of strategies.
One place he might not be considering is upstairs in the oldy, moldy archives of the hundred-year-plus company which house all kinds of antiquities. Two curious ones recently surfaced in an online forum called the Macy’s Alumni Group whose impresario, company veteran Bill Buczak, regularly posts just about anything that moves about Macy’s.
Two ads, one from 1906 and the other from 1908, heralded the “Marvels of American Merchandising” from “The Largest Retail Store Under One Roof in the World,” and if the former may not quite fit any longer the latter still remains true as far as anybody knows. But beyond the hyperbole and bravado, it turns out the marketing messages in these ads strangely have some true relevance to what the modern-day Macy’s should be striving for today.
And while these ads specifically refer to the flagship store on Herald Square in Manhattan, consider these attributes that today’s shoppers would be every bit as compelled by wherever they do their shopping:
• Size Matters: Aside from the “largest store” claim – still called out on a large billboard on the corner of Broadway and 34th Street — one ad mentions “24 acres, equal in area approximately to ten city blocks.” Where Amazon talks about the size of its offerings, this is a pretty impressive counter.
• Customer Service: “Number of employees: over 5,000 in the building.” We seriously doubt there are still that many associates – ugh, let’s call them employees as they did in 1906 – what shopper doesn’t want to know there is plenty of sales help on the floor to help them with their purchases? Every retailer talks about customer service but back then Macy’s had the bodies to back up those claims and they probably still do compared to most competitors.
• Proprietary Merchandise: Back before private label was a thing anyone talked about, Macy’s said it had at least “5,000 (employees) in various manufacturing enterprises that serve as feeders for the Macy store.” It then reeled off more than a dozen individual suppliers, ranging from glass and dinnerware to shirts, underwear, mattresses, candy, harnesses (this was still back in the waning days of the horse and carriage) and even baking powder. We’re not quite sure what that last supplier was about, but you get the point: Macy’s had lots of dedicated suppliers producing exclusive merchandise for the store. In today’s retail environment where it’s all about proprietary products, Macy’s was there 120 years ago.
• Direct to Consumer: It was about mail order back then but in this online age, the intent is the same. “Particular attention is directed to the splendid service rendered by our mail order organization.” Take that Jeff Bezos.
• More Than Just Merchandise: Today’s modern retail establishment has to have more than products. It has to offer the kinds of services shoppers want, including restaurants and other amenities. Again, Macy’s was there at the turn of the century. “Apart from the splendid displays of merchandise…visitors will find much of interest in the way of store conveniences—Parlors, Writing Rooms, Public Telephones and one of the largest restaurants in the world.” The specifics may have changed in 12 decades but the intent is the same.
• Finances: We didn’t expect to see this, but there it was. “As a straight line is the shortest distance between two points so a straight cash business is the shortest route from producer of merchandise to consumer.” In another words, we’ve got the balance sheet that allows us to buy smartly – in cash — and not have to pay off bank loans that might impact what we have to charge. Macy’s finances may not be quite what they were back then and certainly there are a few retailers in better off positions, but there are also many that Macy’s competes with that are not. That’s a powerful message.
In today’s age of sound bites, 10-second TikTok videos and attention spans bordering on the nanosecond, Macy’s might not be able to get across all of this messaging from the turn of the last century. But there’s some smart people on 34th Street who should be able to distill much of this for today’s consumer.
Macy’s was founded in 1858 (that’s the original store and Mr. Macy himself in the picture above) and so much in the world of retailing has changed since then. But not everything.
WarrensReport 