Macy's Chief Stores Officer, Marc Mastronardi, details the department store's aggressive brick-and-mortar overhaul. Learn how Macy's is moving beyond traditional malls with smaller, curated 'Market by Macy's' stores, optimizing for discovery, convenience, and engagement. This episode offers critical insights into evolving physical retail strategies and workforce transformation for ecommerce operators navigating omnichannel challenges.
Macy's is in the process of rethinking its entire store business. Recent moves emphasize this shift: at its most recent earnings, the company said it was focusing on opening more off-mall locations, a distinct shift from its place as a mall stalwart. According to Marc Mastronardi, Macy's chief stores officer, this shift is a long-time coming and indicative of a longstanding strategy to rethink its stores and the way they operate. The company's strategy now, Mastronardi said, is "us defining it more explicitly for ourselves to now say: what does it take for us to be great at discovery, to be great at convenience, to be great at service and engagement?" Mastronardi joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about how he approaches his role. He spoke onstage at Shoptalk, held in Las Vegas, and afterward sat down to speak with Modern Retail. While this episode was recorded a day before Macy's announced its CEO was stepping down, the theme of change was palpable throughout the conversation. One of the big focuses for Mastronardi has been rethinking how store associates interface with the entire brand. The Macy's of old was focused on specialization -- an associate for menswear, another for bedding, etc. Now, Macy's has shifted this to make most store associates generalists in all areas of the business (with the exception of very specialized departments like makeup, jewelry and furniture). "We created a front-of-the-house team and a back-of-the-house team," Mastronardi said. "And that front-of-the-house team now works the entire store on the front of the house. And you could work in many different areas on any given day, any given week." Meanwhile, Macy's has been putting more focus in new store concepts. It currently has eight Market by Macy's off-mall stores, which are located in what Mastronardi described as "power centers." These are smaller stores with more curated assortment. And then idea is to target a different type of shopper -- one who isn't leisurely