Dive Brief:
- Macy’s executives touted NPS gains during an earnings call Wednesday that was otherwise filled with bad news. Net sales fell 2.4% year over year in the third quarter, while comparable sales fell 1.3% year over year, according to the earnings call.
- However, consumers are responding positively to Macy’s investments in staffing, merchandising, visual presentation and eventing to improve customer experience, CEO Tony Spring said. The investments are part of Macy’s Bold New Chapter strategy, which the company is three-quarters the way into.
- Macy’s net promoter score is up 400 basis points for a third consecutive quarter, reflecting the “highest net promoter scores that we've seen on record at the Macy's brand,” according to Spring.
- Macy's net promoter score was up for the third-consecutive quarter year over year, reflecting the “highest net promoter scores that we've seen on record at the Macy's brand,” Spring said. Its Q3 NPS score was up 400 basis points year over year.
Dive Insight:
Amid mixed results, Macy’s saw customers react positively to its efforts to improve customer experience.
“We are listening to our customers and believe our compelling product, marketing, value and experiences and, of course, frontline colleagues are giving them a reason to shop our nameplates,” Spring said.
Spring highlighted the positive results of First 50, a collection of Macy’s high-performing stores, which saw comparable sales growth for a third consecutive quarter.
As part of the retailer’s experiments to improve customer experience, Macy’s increased staffing at women’s shoes and handbag departments at 100 go-forward locations. Sales at these 100 locations outperformed locations that did not receive additional staffing by roughly 700 basis points year over year.
“This illustrates the importance of dedicated customer assistance in high touch point categories,” Spring said. “Having dedicated runners to get shoes from the stockroom and salespeople available to assist in handbags allows our colleagues to spend more time with the customer.”
Improvements aren’t limited to Macy’s First 50 and 100 locations. Across the Macy's nameplate, the company is providing in-person coaching and digital tools to help staff help customers.
“We set out this year to change the Macy's experience,” Spring said. “We picked 50 stores to do it. We will expand First 50 next year, and that expansion strategy will be communicated on our fourth quarter call.”
Macy’s continues to face an uphill battle. The retailer plans to close around 65 locations this year.
Executives also commented on the results of its investigation into an accounting irregularity. The investigation found that an employee hid $151 million in small-package delivery expenses from Q4 2021 to Q3 2024. The retailer is also facing yet another challenge from activist shareholders.
