西爾斯百貨（Sears）正處于破產保護中，彭尼百貨（JC Penney）再次陷入困境，面對這種狀況，梅西百貨（Macy’s）不得不重新考慮在商場里只剩自家店鋪苦苦支撐的情況下如何運營。

西爾斯上個月申請破產保護，宣布又有一批店鋪要統一關閉；今年早些時候，邦頓百貨（Bon-Ton）停業清盤；與此同時，彭尼百貨盡管已經在2017年關閉了140家業績不佳的店鋪，營業狀況卻仍然止步不前。在一些商場里，上述連鎖品牌均已倒閉，雖然梅西百貨仍然開門迎客，商場卻已經變成了實際意義上的鬼城：雖然這么說聽起來違反直覺，但商城里重要競爭對手的消失對梅西百貨造成了負面影響，因為這些連鎖品牌的退場意味著商場整體客流量的減少。

為了解決這個問題，梅西百貨于上周三表示，公司正在將旗下600多家商店按照三個層次進行分級，以此來確定他們將獲得多少投資。通常情況下，如果一家店鋪所在商場或購物中心業績疲軟，其它連鎖百貨品牌都已退場只有梅西百貨仍在堅持的話，這類店鋪會被劃入所謂的“社區”商店集合。

具體而言，這意味著如果此類店鋪想改善照明、地板硬件或固定裝置，仍然能獲得投資，但規模要比公司其它店鋪小得多。這么做的考慮是，盡管這些店鋪表現一般，卻仍然有利可圖，值得保留。但它們所在的購物中心狀態不佳，公司不應該擴大店鋪規?；蛘呋ǜ噱X。

“我們確實感受到了，在一些購物中心里，我們變成了唯一能撐起這個商場的連鎖百貨，這也是我們發展社區戰略的起源?！泵肺靼儇浀氖紫瘓绦泄俳芊颉じ鶅忍馗嬖V本刊。根內特說：“人們來這些社區商店往往是為了買些日常用品，而不是探尋新時尚，如果客戶想趕時髦，他們會去更高端的梅西商店?！备鶅忍卣f。社區商店的規模將被縮減20%，員工數量也將減少。

但是，根內特說，這類商店仍然要達到一定的標準。社區商店也將提供自助結賬服務，會有自助服務鞋品區。最重要的是，這些商店對梅西百貨繼續發展眼下最炙手可熱的電子商務業務至關重要，它們將像所有商店一樣，提供在線訂單提貨和退貨處理服務。

“可能商場里的其它店鋪沒有足夠的理由吸引顧客去，所以我們必須給他們足夠的理由來我們的店里?！备鶅忍卣f。

下一層級是梅西百貨所謂的“磁鐵”商店，它們將獲得更多投資。這些商店中已經有大約50家加入了梅西百貨的“增長50”（“Growth50”）項目，該項目通過在特定商店測試新的營銷和展示創意來快速了解哪種方式效果好、值得推廣到更多的商店。這些商店能夠獲得投資進行更復雜的裝修，有更多人手，商品種類更豐富，很多商店還會出售更高端的產品。梅西百貨已經在一些店鋪測試了用儲物柜存放提取在線訂購商品的做法。2019年還將有100家梅西享受這種待遇。

梅西百貨最頂級的店鋪包括位于曼哈頓面積達百萬平方英尺的先鋒廣場店（Macy’s Herald Square）以及十個像舊金山聯合廣場店（Union Square）一樣規模的店鋪。

把商店做小的想法正在零售業興起。例如，科爾氏百貨公司（Kohl’s）的很多店鋪也在減少庫存，整理店面避免雜亂，開辟空間轉租給其他像雜貨店一樣的零售商店，因為這些商店可以吸引更多客流。諾德斯特龍（Nordstrom）和塔吉特（Target）公司也和其它一些品牌一樣，正在推出面積更小的店鋪。

經常因為店面雜亂受到抨擊的梅西百貨已經有所進步：GlobalData Retail公司在上周三的一份研究報告中表示，其研究表明67％的客戶認為梅西百貨的購物體驗“好或非常好”，而一年前僅為59%。

這也解釋了為什么梅西百貨似乎獲得了動力實現反彈增長。根據Consensus Metrix的數據，這家百貨連鎖店稱公司第三季度可比銷售額增長3.1％，已經實現連續四個季度的增長，遠高于華爾街預測的2.2％增長。隨著一年中最重要的節日即將來臨，梅西百貨提高了自己的全年預測數據，根內特說梅西百貨已經準備好迎接這個節日了。（財富中文網）

譯者：Agatha

With Sears now in bankruptcy protection and J.C. Penney struggling again, Macy’s is being forced to rethink how it operates its stores in the malls it co-anchors with those rivals.

Sears filed for bankruptcy protection last month, announcing yet another round of store closings en masse, and Bon-Ton liquidated earlier this year, while Penney is struggling to tread water despite shuttering 140 weak stores in 2017. The malls that those chains left but where Macy’s still has a store have practically become ghost towns: while counterintuitive, the disappearance of rival retailers that anchor a mall hurts Macy’s since it means less overall shopper traffic.

To address that problem, Macy’s on last Wednesday said it was creating a three-tier classification of its 600-plus stores that determines how much investment they will get. Stores in weak malls and centers where Macy’s is the last department store standing will typically be part of the subset designated as “neighborhood” stores by the company.

Concretely that means they will continue to get investments like better lighting, flooring and fixtures, but on a much more modest scale than other Macy’s locations. The idea is that those stores—while under-performing—are nonetheless profitable and worth keeping. But the state of the malls they inhabit mean Macy’s shouldn’t warrant anything more extensive or lavish.

“We are experiencing [that trend] at our malls where we’re the only anchor left and that has really informed our neighborhood store strategy,” Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette told Fortune. “Such stores are typically used for trips to replenish basics rather than explore and look for new fashion, which customers do by going to a better Macy’s,” Gennette said. The neighborhood stores will be shrunk in size by about 20% and have fewer staff.

Still, Gennette says that the stores still have to be up to a certain standard. Such neighborhood stores will include self-service checkout and self-serve shoe sections. Crucially these stores are key to supporting Macy’s red-hot e-commerce growth and will offer online order pickup and returns handling like all stores do,

“There might not be enough reason to come to the balance of the mall so you’ve got to give them enough reasons to come to your store,” Gennette said.

Stores in the next tier up, Macy’s so-called “magnet” stores, will get a lot more investment. Some 50 of those stores have been part of Macy’s “Growth50” project, where it has tested new merchandising and presentation ideas at specific stores to quickly see what works and is worth rolling out to more stores. Those stores will get more involved facelifts, more staffing, offer a wider variety of merchandise, including in many stores, more high-end merchandise. At some locations, Macy’s has tested things like lockers to retrieve online orders. Another 100 Macy’s will get that treatment in 2019.

The highest tier stores includes Macy’s Herald Square million-square-foot store in Manhattan and ten more locations like Union Square in San Francisco.

The idea of smaller stores is one that is growing in retail. Kohl’s, for one, is also reducing the inventory at many stores to de-clutter them and down the line, carve out space to sublet to other retailers like grocers that generate frequent store visits. Nordstrom and Target are among the others rolling out smaller locations.

Macy’s, often slammed for store clutter, is already showing signs of progress: In a research note on last Wednesday, GlobalData Retail said that its research found that 67% of customers this rated shopping at Macy’s as “good or very good,” up from 59% a year ago.

That helps explain why Macy’s rebound seems to gaining steam. The department store chain reported that comparable sales rose 3.1% in the third quarter, the fourth quarter of growth in a row and well above Wall Street forecasts for 2.2% growth, according to Consensus Metrix. And it raised its full year forecast just as the crucial holiday is getting underway, one for which Gennette said Macy’s is ready.