自2017年執(zhí)掌梅西百貨(Macy’s)以來(lái),杰夫·根內(nèi)特一直專注于改造這家擁有163年歷史的老牌零售商,以期在亞馬遜(Amazon)和其他電商主導(dǎo)的零售領(lǐng)域保持競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。日前在梅西百貨歷史悠久的紐約總部接受《財(cái)富》雜志專訪時(shí),根內(nèi)特暢談了實(shí)體店緣何如此重要,他如何應(yīng)對(duì)供應(yīng)鏈動(dòng)蕩等話題。
為篇幅和簡(jiǎn)明起見(jiàn),以下對(duì)話經(jīng)過(guò)摘編。
百貨公司的未來(lái)
《財(cái)富》:梅西百貨今年強(qiáng)勢(shì)反彈,預(yù)計(jì)將迎來(lái)一個(gè)盛大的假日購(gòu)物季(注釋1)。但你們?nèi)匀粵](méi)有恢復(fù)到新冠疫情爆發(fā)前的水平。在一個(gè)由電子商務(wù)主導(dǎo)的世界中,請(qǐng)你談?wù)劙儇浌救绾螞Q勝未來(lái)(注釋2)。
杰夫·根內(nèi)特:梅西百貨抵御競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的“護(hù)城河”是,我們擁有根據(jù)人們的個(gè)人風(fēng)格——無(wú)論是購(gòu)物者自己,還是最終享用他們購(gòu)買(mǎi)東西的人——策劃時(shí)尚的能力。做到這一點(diǎn),并且在我們所有的接觸點(diǎn)(即實(shí)體商店和數(shù)字平臺(tái))上做到這一點(diǎn),才是我們存在的真正理由。
不妨回想一下百貨公司的起源。這是一種可以滿足所有人所有需要的零售業(yè)態(tài)。借助數(shù)字平臺(tái),你真的能夠做到這一點(diǎn),如果你有足夠強(qiáng)的想象力,足夠多的商家的話。我們不會(huì)要求人們選擇什么樣式,而是專注于提供一個(gè)菜單,幫助人們找到自己心儀的東西。我認(rèn)為,時(shí)尚和風(fēng)格策展是我們的獨(dú)到之處。倘若沒(méi)有百貨公司,我相信今天也會(huì)有人把它發(fā)明出來(lái)。我堅(jiān)信,百貨公司在今天和過(guò)去一樣重要,但它必須得做出改變,必須與時(shí)俱進(jìn)。
供應(yīng)鏈動(dòng)蕩
供應(yīng)鏈危機(jī)導(dǎo)致某些緊俏產(chǎn)品的需求一路看漲。部分出于這個(gè)原因,許多零售商,包括梅西百貨在內(nèi),紛紛減少了打折促銷(xiāo)活動(dòng),并由此斬獲更高的利潤(rùn)率。對(duì)于零售業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō),這是不是一個(gè)促使購(gòu)物者擺脫“搶便宜貨”心態(tài)的機(jī)會(huì)?
我們的顧客喜歡打折商品——這個(gè)“黑色星期五”(Black Friday)將迎來(lái)海量交易額(注釋3)。未來(lái)的機(jī)遇在于你如何回應(yīng)客戶對(duì)特惠商品的需求,并使之成為一種個(gè)人對(duì)話。我們的所有優(yōu)惠都是在數(shù)據(jù)支持下完成的,這要?dú)w功于我們的忠誠(chéng)度計(jì)劃(注釋4)。因此,我們所有人都有機(jī)會(huì)從廣泛的促銷(xiāo)活動(dòng)中解脫出來(lái)。而這來(lái)自于對(duì)顧客的了解。我們過(guò)去每年要開(kāi)展100場(chǎng)促銷(xiāo)活動(dòng)——大約每周兩次——現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)大幅減少。我們?nèi)匀粫?huì)搞促銷(xiāo),但其中相當(dāng)大一部分都是個(gè)體化交易。
比方說(shuō),假如你一直在尋找蔻馳(Coach)的飾品,并把它們放入購(gòu)物籃中,但你還沒(méi)有走完購(gòu)買(mǎi)流程,這時(shí)我們可能就會(huì)給你一個(gè)優(yōu)惠。但我不會(huì)給那些沒(méi)有展現(xiàn)興趣的人提供同樣的優(yōu)惠。我認(rèn)為,“優(yōu)惠”總是要給的。但提供優(yōu)惠的方式將變得更加個(gè)體化。
庫(kù)存情況如何?這些變化是永久性的嗎?
我們堅(jiān)定地致力于精簡(jiǎn)庫(kù)存,并且正在從中受益。我們的顧客說(shuō),梅西百貨感覺(jué)不那么雜亂了,“我可以看到更多你們提供的商品。”我們的銷(xiāo)售率、平均單位零售額(代表價(jià)格)和利潤(rùn)率都在好轉(zhuǎn)。
全球供應(yīng)鏈動(dòng)蕩是否影響了你們采購(gòu)產(chǎn)品的方式?你們做了哪些改變來(lái)應(yīng)對(duì)這種狀況?
這場(chǎng)危機(jī)給我們帶來(lái)了一個(gè)提升供應(yīng)渠道多元化的機(jī)會(huì)。我們要求供應(yīng)商在多個(gè)國(guó)家設(shè)有工廠,竭力實(shí)現(xiàn)供應(yīng)在這些工廠之間的無(wú)縫轉(zhuǎn)移。此外,還要確保你在購(gòu)買(mǎi)原材料時(shí)擁有最大的靈活性:你投資的面料是否能夠跨品牌使用,適用于不同性別的產(chǎn)品?
在美國(guó),我們還需要提升進(jìn)貨港口的多元化。這也將是非常重要的一環(huán):我們不能讓80%的東亞貨物通過(guò)洛杉磯港口進(jìn)入美國(guó)。在梅西百貨,這個(gè)占比過(guò)去是80%,現(xiàn)在是60%,可能還需要進(jìn)一步下降。我們正在嘗試使用小型集裝箱,選擇一些較小的港口,并調(diào)遣貨運(yùn)列車(chē)和卡車(chē)進(jìn)入這些地區(qū),這樣就可以繞開(kāi)集運(yùn)商來(lái)提高物流速度。
贏得人心和錢(qián)包
對(duì)于梅西百貨這樣的老牌零售商來(lái)說(shuō),品牌忠誠(chéng)度向來(lái)都至關(guān)重要。購(gòu)物者的忠誠(chéng)度在下降嗎?
這取決于不同年齡段的人口群體和產(chǎn)品類別。總的來(lái)說(shuō),年輕顧客對(duì)特定品牌的忠誠(chéng)度不如年長(zhǎng)顧客。但在某些產(chǎn)品類別上,他們可能非常忠誠(chéng);如果你是奢侈品消費(fèi)者,你可能就會(huì)對(duì)某個(gè)品牌非常忠誠(chéng),當(dāng)然也會(huì)對(duì)某家百貨公司非常忠誠(chéng)。消費(fèi)者對(duì)于香水也是相當(dāng)忠誠(chéng)的,但在服裝等類別上,他們會(huì)跳來(lái)跳去。
你每天都有機(jī)會(huì)贏得一個(gè)新顧客。一次糟糕的購(gòu)物體驗(yàn)可能會(huì)讓你失去他們。但僅僅因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)趯?shí)體店獲得了很棒的購(gòu)物體驗(yàn),并不意味著你會(huì)留住他們。所以,你必須不斷自我更新。
選擇零售業(yè)有前途嗎?
你對(duì)“大辭職潮”(Great Resignation)有何看法?
這是真真切切的。我們有很多空缺職位(注釋5)。很多人都在旁觀。當(dāng)他們回來(lái)的時(shí)候,我們要確保零售業(yè)是一個(gè)他們能夠稱之為家的地方(注釋6)。
那么你們是如何做的?你是在1983年加入梅西百貨的,一路奮斗到如今的首席執(zhí)行官辦公室。梅西百貨還可以為年輕人提供這樣的職業(yè)發(fā)展路徑嗎?
我認(rèn)為比起上一代人,現(xiàn)在的情況要好得多。我剛來(lái)的時(shí)候,完全想象不到零售業(yè)現(xiàn)在能夠提供如此豐富的工作種類。如今,幾乎一半的零售工作都不是面向顧客的。例如,我們現(xiàn)在對(duì)理工科學(xué)生的需求非常大。當(dāng)下的要?jiǎng)?wù)之一是,讓大學(xué)以現(xiàn)代眼光看待零售業(yè),認(rèn)識(shí)到這個(gè)行業(yè)可以提供大量的技術(shù)和分析類工作。就很多方面而言,零售商現(xiàn)在都是科技公司。如果你今天進(jìn)入零售業(yè),你就能夠隨心所欲地施展自己。從公關(guān)宣傳的角度看,我們要確保零售業(yè)獲得應(yīng)有的尊重,因?yàn)槲覀兛梢詣?chuàng)造出很多工作機(jī)會(huì)。
你明確表示,梅西百貨的最佳經(jīng)營(yíng)方式是將電子商務(wù)和實(shí)體店結(jié)合起來(lái)。這樣做的理由是什么(注釋7)?
顯然,有一些例子表明,即使沒(méi)有實(shí)體店輔助,電子商務(wù)也可以蓬勃發(fā)展。但我要告訴你,就連亞馬遜這樣的電商大鱷也開(kāi)始尋找實(shí)體店。最重要的原因是,顧客喜歡實(shí)體店。對(duì)于一個(gè)品牌來(lái)說(shuō),實(shí)體店能夠成為一個(gè)絕佳的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)工具。業(yè)績(jī)最好的梅西門(mén)店,往往也擁有非常強(qiáng)勁的數(shù)字業(yè)務(wù)。不可否認(rèn),這就是零售業(yè)的發(fā)展方向。
走出大型商場(chǎng)
長(zhǎng)久以來(lái),梅西百貨一直是一家立足于大型商場(chǎng)的大賣(mài)場(chǎng)連鎖店。但現(xiàn)在,你們開(kāi)始嘗試新的門(mén)店規(guī)模,并且向非商場(chǎng)地點(diǎn)擴(kuò)展。原因何在?
我們正在試驗(yàn)一些較小的經(jīng)營(yíng)形態(tài)(注釋8),并且正在考察多功能開(kāi)發(fā)項(xiàng)目、大型商業(yè)區(qū),以及直銷(xiāo)中心。一旦我們進(jìn)駐某個(gè)市場(chǎng),這些區(qū)段的數(shù)字業(yè)務(wù)就會(huì)呈現(xiàn)井噴式發(fā)展。這就是我們?cè)u(píng)估“小門(mén)”策略的方式。我的愿望是,我們將帶著一個(gè)戰(zhàn)略走出去,梅西百貨未來(lái)將擁有更多的單位、更多的門(mén)店,但整體營(yíng)業(yè)面積將會(huì)減少。
鑒于氣候變化問(wèn)題日益緊迫,你如何看待梅西百貨在可持續(xù)發(fā)展方面的責(zé)任?如果人們不再消費(fèi)更多的東西,你們的生意是否會(huì)受到不利影響?
我們將對(duì)客戶在這方面的表現(xiàn)做出回應(yīng)。我認(rèn)為,美國(guó)消費(fèi)者就只是消費(fèi)者而已。顧客會(huì)為可持續(xù)發(fā)展付出多少?他們會(huì)付額外的錢(qián)嗎?我們還沒(méi)有看到這一點(diǎn)。但考慮到ESG(即環(huán)境、社會(huì)與企業(yè)治理)評(píng)價(jià)體系日益盛行,考慮到許多年輕消費(fèi)者正在要求品牌做出可持續(xù)發(fā)展承諾,我們將密切關(guān)注這方面的動(dòng)向。無(wú)論如何,我們都會(huì)做好準(zhǔn)備的。
注釋:
1. 零售業(yè)復(fù)蘇:梅西百貨估計(jì),2021年其凈銷(xiāo)售額將達(dá)到237.5億美元,僅僅略低于2019年的水平。(資料來(lái)源:彭博社)
2. 店鋪減少:這家零售商目前經(jīng)營(yíng)著約507家同名百貨商店,而十年前的這一數(shù)字為737家。(梅西百貨公司還擁有Bloomingdale’s百貨店和美容產(chǎn)品零售商Bluemercury。)
3. 黑色星期五效應(yīng):由于看好即將到來(lái)的假日購(gòu)物季,梅西百貨最近將2021年的收入預(yù)測(cè)上調(diào)了4.5億美元。
4. 忠誠(chéng)帶來(lái)回報(bào):梅西百貨近70%的銷(xiāo)售額是由參與其忠誠(chéng)度計(jì)劃的客戶貢獻(xiàn)的。這比2019年上升了10個(gè)百分點(diǎn)。
5. 節(jié)日愿望清單?更多員工:梅西百貨希望在假日購(gòu)物季到來(lái)前招募7.6萬(wàn)名員工,還號(hào)召?gòu)V大員工在銷(xiāo)售旺季輪班工作。
6. 增加福利:梅西百貨是將最低時(shí)薪提高到15美元的零售商之一。從2022年開(kāi)始,該公司還將為員工報(bào)銷(xiāo)某些教育項(xiàng)目的學(xué)費(fèi)、書(shū)本費(fèi)和其他費(fèi)用。
7. 分拆電子商務(wù):維權(quán)投資者Jana Partners正在向梅西百貨施壓,要求其剝離電子商務(wù)業(yè)務(wù)。到2023年,該業(yè)務(wù)的營(yíng)收預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)到100億美元。該公司表示,已經(jīng)聘請(qǐng)一家咨詢公司來(lái)研究潛在分拆的影響。
8. 小而強(qiáng)大: 梅西百貨目前經(jīng)營(yíng)五家Market by Macy's商店,其規(guī)模是普通門(mén)店的六分之一,致力于提供精選產(chǎn)品。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
本文另一版本登載于《財(cái)富》雜志2021年12月/2022年1月刊,標(biāo)題為《對(duì)話:杰夫·根內(nèi)特》(The Conversation: Jeff Gennette)。
譯者:任文科
自2017年執(zhí)掌梅西百貨(Macy’s)以來(lái),杰夫·根內(nèi)特一直專注于改造這家擁有163年歷史的老牌零售商,以期在亞馬遜(Amazon)和其他電商主導(dǎo)的零售領(lǐng)域保持競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。日前在梅西百貨歷史悠久的紐約總部接受《財(cái)富》雜志專訪時(shí),根內(nèi)特暢談了實(shí)體店緣何如此重要,他如何應(yīng)對(duì)供應(yīng)鏈動(dòng)蕩等話題。
為篇幅和簡(jiǎn)明起見(jiàn),以下對(duì)話經(jīng)過(guò)摘編。
百貨公司的未來(lái)
《財(cái)富》:梅西百貨今年強(qiáng)勢(shì)反彈,預(yù)計(jì)將迎來(lái)一個(gè)盛大的假日購(gòu)物季(注釋1)。但你們?nèi)匀粵](méi)有恢復(fù)到新冠疫情爆發(fā)前的水平。在一個(gè)由電子商務(wù)主導(dǎo)的世界中,請(qǐng)你談?wù)劙儇浌救绾螞Q勝未來(lái)(注釋2)。
杰夫·根內(nèi)特:梅西百貨抵御競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的“護(hù)城河”是,我們擁有根據(jù)人們的個(gè)人風(fēng)格——無(wú)論是購(gòu)物者自己,還是最終享用他們購(gòu)買(mǎi)東西的人——策劃時(shí)尚的能力。做到這一點(diǎn),并且在我們所有的接觸點(diǎn)(即實(shí)體商店和數(shù)字平臺(tái))上做到這一點(diǎn),才是我們存在的真正理由。
不妨回想一下百貨公司的起源。這是一種可以滿足所有人所有需要的零售業(yè)態(tài)。借助數(shù)字平臺(tái),你真的能夠做到這一點(diǎn),如果你有足夠強(qiáng)的想象力,足夠多的商家的話。我們不會(huì)要求人們選擇什么樣式,而是專注于提供一個(gè)菜單,幫助人們找到自己心儀的東西。我認(rèn)為,時(shí)尚和風(fēng)格策展是我們的獨(dú)到之處。倘若沒(méi)有百貨公司,我相信今天也會(huì)有人把它發(fā)明出來(lái)。我堅(jiān)信,百貨公司在今天和過(guò)去一樣重要,但它必須得做出改變,必須與時(shí)俱進(jìn)。
供應(yīng)鏈動(dòng)蕩
供應(yīng)鏈危機(jī)導(dǎo)致某些緊俏產(chǎn)品的需求一路看漲。部分出于這個(gè)原因,許多零售商,包括梅西百貨在內(nèi),紛紛減少了打折促銷(xiāo)活動(dòng),并由此斬獲更高的利潤(rùn)率。對(duì)于零售業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō),這是不是一個(gè)促使購(gòu)物者擺脫“搶便宜貨”心態(tài)的機(jī)會(huì)?
我們的顧客喜歡打折商品——這個(gè)“黑色星期五”(Black Friday)將迎來(lái)海量交易額(注釋3)。未來(lái)的機(jī)遇在于你如何回應(yīng)客戶對(duì)特惠商品的需求,并使之成為一種個(gè)人對(duì)話。我們的所有優(yōu)惠都是在數(shù)據(jù)支持下完成的,這要?dú)w功于我們的忠誠(chéng)度計(jì)劃(注釋4)。因此,我們所有人都有機(jī)會(huì)從廣泛的促銷(xiāo)活動(dòng)中解脫出來(lái)。而這來(lái)自于對(duì)顧客的了解。我們過(guò)去每年要開(kāi)展100場(chǎng)促銷(xiāo)活動(dòng)——大約每周兩次——現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)大幅減少。我們?nèi)匀粫?huì)搞促銷(xiāo),但其中相當(dāng)大一部分都是個(gè)體化交易。
比方說(shuō),假如你一直在尋找蔻馳(Coach)的飾品,并把它們放入購(gòu)物籃中,但你還沒(méi)有走完購(gòu)買(mǎi)流程,這時(shí)我們可能就會(huì)給你一個(gè)優(yōu)惠。但我不會(huì)給那些沒(méi)有展現(xiàn)興趣的人提供同樣的優(yōu)惠。我認(rèn)為,“優(yōu)惠”總是要給的。但提供優(yōu)惠的方式將變得更加個(gè)體化。
庫(kù)存情況如何?這些變化是永久性的嗎?
我們堅(jiān)定地致力于精簡(jiǎn)庫(kù)存,并且正在從中受益。我們的顧客說(shuō),梅西百貨感覺(jué)不那么雜亂了,“我可以看到更多你們提供的商品。”我們的銷(xiāo)售率、平均單位零售額(代表價(jià)格)和利潤(rùn)率都在好轉(zhuǎn)。
全球供應(yīng)鏈動(dòng)蕩是否影響了你們采購(gòu)產(chǎn)品的方式?你們做了哪些改變來(lái)應(yīng)對(duì)這種狀況?
這場(chǎng)危機(jī)給我們帶來(lái)了一個(gè)提升供應(yīng)渠道多元化的機(jī)會(huì)。我們要求供應(yīng)商在多個(gè)國(guó)家設(shè)有工廠,竭力實(shí)現(xiàn)供應(yīng)在這些工廠之間的無(wú)縫轉(zhuǎn)移。此外,還要確保你在購(gòu)買(mǎi)原材料時(shí)擁有最大的靈活性:你投資的面料是否能夠跨品牌使用,適用于不同性別的產(chǎn)品?
在美國(guó),我們還需要提升進(jìn)貨港口的多元化。這也將是非常重要的一環(huán):我們不能讓80%的東亞貨物通過(guò)洛杉磯港口進(jìn)入美國(guó)。在梅西百貨,這個(gè)占比過(guò)去是80%,現(xiàn)在是60%,可能還需要進(jìn)一步下降。我們正在嘗試使用小型集裝箱,選擇一些較小的港口,并調(diào)遣貨運(yùn)列車(chē)和卡車(chē)進(jìn)入這些地區(qū),這樣就可以繞開(kāi)集運(yùn)商來(lái)提高物流速度。
贏得人心和錢(qián)包
對(duì)于梅西百貨這樣的老牌零售商來(lái)說(shuō),品牌忠誠(chéng)度向來(lái)都至關(guān)重要。購(gòu)物者的忠誠(chéng)度在下降嗎?
這取決于不同年齡段的人口群體和產(chǎn)品類別。總的來(lái)說(shuō),年輕顧客對(duì)特定品牌的忠誠(chéng)度不如年長(zhǎng)顧客。但在某些產(chǎn)品類別上,他們可能非常忠誠(chéng);如果你是奢侈品消費(fèi)者,你可能就會(huì)對(duì)某個(gè)品牌非常忠誠(chéng),當(dāng)然也會(huì)對(duì)某家百貨公司非常忠誠(chéng)。消費(fèi)者對(duì)于香水也是相當(dāng)忠誠(chéng)的,但在服裝等類別上,他們會(huì)跳來(lái)跳去。
你每天都有機(jī)會(huì)贏得一個(gè)新顧客。一次糟糕的購(gòu)物體驗(yàn)可能會(huì)讓你失去他們。但僅僅因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)趯?shí)體店獲得了很棒的購(gòu)物體驗(yàn),并不意味著你會(huì)留住他們。所以,你必須不斷自我更新。
選擇零售業(yè)有前途嗎?
你對(duì)“大辭職潮”(Great Resignation)有何看法?
這是真真切切的。我們有很多空缺職位(注釋5)。很多人都在旁觀。當(dāng)他們回來(lái)的時(shí)候,我們要確保零售業(yè)是一個(gè)他們能夠稱之為家的地方(注釋6)。
那么你們是如何做的?你是在1983年加入梅西百貨的,一路奮斗到如今的首席執(zhí)行官辦公室。梅西百貨還可以為年輕人提供這樣的職業(yè)發(fā)展路徑嗎?
我認(rèn)為比起上一代人,現(xiàn)在的情況要好得多。我剛來(lái)的時(shí)候,完全想象不到零售業(yè)現(xiàn)在能夠提供如此豐富的工作種類。如今,幾乎一半的零售工作都不是面向顧客的。例如,我們現(xiàn)在對(duì)理工科學(xué)生的需求非常大。當(dāng)下的要?jiǎng)?wù)之一是,讓大學(xué)以現(xiàn)代眼光看待零售業(yè),認(rèn)識(shí)到這個(gè)行業(yè)可以提供大量的技術(shù)和分析類工作。就很多方面而言,零售商現(xiàn)在都是科技公司。如果你今天進(jìn)入零售業(yè),你就能夠隨心所欲地施展自己。從公關(guān)宣傳的角度看,我們要確保零售業(yè)獲得應(yīng)有的尊重,因?yàn)槲覀兛梢詣?chuàng)造出很多工作機(jī)會(huì)。
你明確表示,梅西百貨的最佳經(jīng)營(yíng)方式是將電子商務(wù)和實(shí)體店結(jié)合起來(lái)。這樣做的理由是什么(注釋7)?
顯然,有一些例子表明,即使沒(méi)有實(shí)體店輔助,電子商務(wù)也可以蓬勃發(fā)展。但我要告訴你,就連亞馬遜這樣的電商大鱷也開(kāi)始尋找實(shí)體店。最重要的原因是,顧客喜歡實(shí)體店。對(duì)于一個(gè)品牌來(lái)說(shuō),實(shí)體店能夠成為一個(gè)絕佳的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)工具。業(yè)績(jī)最好的梅西門(mén)店,往往也擁有非常強(qiáng)勁的數(shù)字業(yè)務(wù)。不可否認(rèn),這就是零售業(yè)的發(fā)展方向。
走出大型商場(chǎng)
長(zhǎng)久以來(lái),梅西百貨一直是一家立足于大型商場(chǎng)的大賣(mài)場(chǎng)連鎖店。但現(xiàn)在,你們開(kāi)始嘗試新的門(mén)店規(guī)模,并且向非商場(chǎng)地點(diǎn)擴(kuò)展。原因何在?
我們正在試驗(yàn)一些較小的經(jīng)營(yíng)形態(tài)(注釋8),并且正在考察多功能開(kāi)發(fā)項(xiàng)目、大型商業(yè)區(qū),以及直銷(xiāo)中心。一旦我們進(jìn)駐某個(gè)市場(chǎng),這些區(qū)段的數(shù)字業(yè)務(wù)就會(huì)呈現(xiàn)井噴式發(fā)展。這就是我們?cè)u(píng)估“小門(mén)”策略的方式。我的愿望是,我們將帶著一個(gè)戰(zhàn)略走出去,梅西百貨未來(lái)將擁有更多的單位、更多的門(mén)店,但整體營(yíng)業(yè)面積將會(huì)減少。
鑒于氣候變化問(wèn)題日益緊迫,你如何看待梅西百貨在可持續(xù)發(fā)展方面的責(zé)任?如果人們不再消費(fèi)更多的東西,你們的生意是否會(huì)受到不利影響?
我們將對(duì)客戶在這方面的表現(xiàn)做出回應(yīng)。我認(rèn)為,美國(guó)消費(fèi)者就只是消費(fèi)者而已。顧客會(huì)為可持續(xù)發(fā)展付出多少?他們會(huì)付額外的錢(qián)嗎?我們還沒(méi)有看到這一點(diǎn)。但考慮到ESG(即環(huán)境、社會(huì)與企業(yè)治理)評(píng)價(jià)體系日益盛行,考慮到許多年輕消費(fèi)者正在要求品牌做出可持續(xù)發(fā)展承諾,我們將密切關(guān)注這方面的動(dòng)向。無(wú)論如何,我們都會(huì)做好準(zhǔn)備的。
注釋:
1. 零售業(yè)復(fù)蘇:梅西百貨估計(jì),2021年其凈銷(xiāo)售額將達(dá)到237.5億美元,僅僅略低于2019年的水平。(資料來(lái)源:彭博社)
2. 店鋪減少:這家零售商目前經(jīng)營(yíng)著約507家同名百貨商店,而十年前的這一數(shù)字為737家。(梅西百貨公司還擁有Bloomingdale’s百貨店和美容產(chǎn)品零售商Bluemercury。)
3. 黑色星期五效應(yīng):由于看好即將到來(lái)的假日購(gòu)物季,梅西百貨最近將2021年的收入預(yù)測(cè)上調(diào)了4.5億美元。
4. 忠誠(chéng)帶來(lái)回報(bào):梅西百貨近70%的銷(xiāo)售額是由參與其忠誠(chéng)度計(jì)劃的客戶貢獻(xiàn)的。這比2019年上升了10個(gè)百分點(diǎn)。
5. 節(jié)日愿望清單?更多員工:梅西百貨希望在假日購(gòu)物季到來(lái)前招募7.6萬(wàn)名員工,還號(hào)召?gòu)V大員工在銷(xiāo)售旺季輪班工作。
6. 增加福利:梅西百貨是將最低時(shí)薪提高到15美元的零售商之一。從2022年開(kāi)始,該公司還將為員工報(bào)銷(xiāo)某些教育項(xiàng)目的學(xué)費(fèi)、書(shū)本費(fèi)和其他費(fèi)用。
7. 分拆電子商務(wù):維權(quán)投資者Jana Partners正在向梅西百貨施壓,要求其剝離電子商務(wù)業(yè)務(wù)。到2023年,該業(yè)務(wù)的營(yíng)收預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)到100億美元。該公司表示,已經(jīng)聘請(qǐng)一家咨詢公司來(lái)研究潛在分拆的影響。
8. 小而強(qiáng)大: 梅西百貨目前經(jīng)營(yíng)五家Market by Macy's商店,其規(guī)模是普通門(mén)店的六分之一,致力于提供精選產(chǎn)品。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
本文另一版本登載于《財(cái)富》雜志2021年12月/2022年1月刊,標(biāo)題為《對(duì)話:杰夫·根內(nèi)特》(The Conversation: Jeff Gennette)。
譯者:任文科
Since taking charge in 2017, the Macy’s chief has been focused on retooling the 163-year-old retailer to compete in a world dominated by Amazon and rest of the e-commerce pack. We met Gennette at Macy’s historic New York HQ to talk about what makes stores so vital, how he’s responding to supply-chain chaos, and why there are still so few LGBTQ CEOs in the Fortune 500.
This edited Q&A contains follow-up questions and has been condensed for space and clarity.
What’s in store
Fortune: Macy’s has had a strong rebound year—and is projecting a big holiday shopping season.1 But you’re still not back to pre-pandemic levels. In a world dominated by e-commerce, make the case for the future of the department store.2
Jeff Gennette: Our competitive moat is our ability to curate fashion for someone’s individual style—either for themselves or for whoever they buy for. When we do that right, and we do it across all of our touch points [stores and digital], that’s really our reason for being.
Just think about the origin of the department store, where you could be all things to all people. With digital, you really can do that if you have the imagination for it, if you’ve got the merchants for it. We don’t dictate style to people but we want to provide a menu to enable people to find what they want. I think that fashion and style curation is our unique place. If we didn’t have department stores, I believe that today somebody would invent them. I really do believe they’re as relevant today as they have been in the past, but they have to be different.
So long, sales?
In part because of the supply-chain crunch, which has ramped up demand for hard-to-get products, many retailers—including Macy’s—are doing less discounting and therefore seeing higher profit margins. Is this an opportunity for the industry to wean shoppers off their “deals deals deals” mentality?
Our customers love deals—this Black Friday will be huge.3 The opportunity for the future is how you take that need that customers have for great value and make it an individual conversation. And you do that through everything we’ve done with data, thanks to our loyalty programs.? So you are going to see the opportunity for all of us to wean ourselves from broad-based promotions. And that comes from knowing our customer. We used to have 100 sale events a year—two per week—and that’s down dramatically. We’re still going to have great sales, but a lot of the content is going to be individualized.
For example, if you’ve been looking at Coach accessories and put them in your basket, but you haven’t [completed the purchase], we might give you an offer. But I wouldn’t give that same offer to somebody who hasn’t signaled that interest. I think the “deal” is always going to be required. But I think the way we’re going to deliver it is going to be more personalized.
How about inventories? Are these changes permanent?
We are deeply committed to leaner inventories, and we’re benefiting from that. Our customers are saying our stores feel less cluttered, and “I can see more of what you have to offer.” You’re getting better sell-throughs and higher average unit retail [a proxy for prices] and margins.
Has the chaos with the global supply chain affected how you source products? What shifts have you made to manage the situation?
You have diversification opportunities at suppliers with factories in multiple countries, where vendors can shift supply back and forth between them. There’s also making sure that you’ve got maximum flexibility in your raw material purchasing: Can the fabrics you’ve invested in be used across brands, used across products for both genders?
Diversification of ports in America is going to be really important too: We can’t have 80% of our freight from East Asia going through [the Port of] L.A. At Macy’s, we were at 80% before—now we’re at 60%, and it probably needs to go south of that. We’ve looked at smaller containers going into smaller ports, getting rail and truckers into those areas, bypassing consolidators to pick up speed.
Winning hearts and wallets
For stores like Macy’s, brand loyalty has long been essential. Are shoppers becoming less loyal?
That depends on the demographic and on the product category. What I’d say in general is that the younger customer is not as loyal to particular brands as the older one. But in certain categories they can be; if you’re a luxury customer, you can be quite loyal to a particular brand, and certainly to a department store. In fragrances, shoppers are quite loyal, but in categories like apparel, they jump all over the place.
You’ve got every day to win a new customer. You can lose them with a bad experience. But just because they have a great experience with you, that doesn’t mean you’re going to keep them, so you’ve got to continue to raise your game to stay relevant.
Shopping for a new career
What do you make of the Great Resignation?
That’s real. We have a lot of open jobs.? Many people are sitting on the sidelines. When they come back, we want to make sure that retail is a place that they can call home.?
So how do you do that? You started at Macy’s in 1983 and worked your way up to the corner office. Can Macy’s still offer young people that kind of career track?
I think much more so than a generation ago. When I was coming up, it wasn’t clear the variety of jobs that you can now get in retail. Today, almost half of all retail jobs are not customer facing. Think about what we’re doing with just STEM needs. One of the biggest needs we have is to get universities looking at us in a modern way and recognizing how many technology jobs and analytics jobs we offer. Retailers are technology companies now in many respects. If you’re coming into retail today, the world is your oyster in terms of the places that you can go. It’s our job from a PR perspective to make sure that our industry gets the respect for the jobs that we can create.
You’ve been clear that you believe Macy’s best operates as a marriage of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores. What’s the case for operating in that way??
There are some examples, obviously, where e-commerce has thrived without stores. But I would tell you that even Amazon is looking for brick-and-mortar locations. First off, customers love stores. A store can be a great marketing tool for a brand. Where we have strong stores is where we’ve got a really strong digital business. It’s irrefutable that this is the way forward in retail.
Mall rat no more
You have a long history as a mall-based big-box chain, but now you’re branching into new store sizes and off-mall locations. Why?
We’re experimenting with our smaller formats,? and looking at [mixed-use developments and large strip malls] and outlet centers. The second we put down stakes in a market, you also get all these spikes in the digital business in those zip codes. And so that’s how we evaluate what we’re doing with the “small door” strategy. My desire is that we’re going to walk out with a strategy where we’re going to have more units, more stores in the future. But we’re going to have less square footage overall.
Given the increasing urgency of climate change, how do you see Macy’s responsibility in terms of sustainability? Is it bad for your business if people stop consuming more things?
We’ll respond to where the customer goes on this. I think the American consumer is just that—a consumer. What will customers pay for sustainability? Will they pay extra? We have not seen that yet. But when you think about ESG and you think about how these younger consumers are holding brands accountable to what they’re doing with sustainability, we’ll see how that plays out. We’ll be ready.
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Between the lines
(1) A retail revival: Macy's estimates its net sales for 2021 will reach $23.75 billion, just below 2019 levels. (Source: Bloomberg)
(2)Shop drop: The retailer currently operates about 507 namesake department stores, down from 737 about a decade ago. (Macy’s Inc. also owns Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury.)
(3) Black Friday in the black: Macy’s recently raised its 2021 revenue forecast by $450 million in anticipation of a big holiday season.
(4) Loyalty pays: Almost 70% of Macy’s sales come from customers in its loyalty programs. That’s up 10 percentage points from 2019.
(5) Holiday wish list? More workers: Macy’s has said it wants to hire 76,000 workers ahead of the holidays. The company is also asking corporate employees to work shifts in the stores over the busy season.
(6) Bulking up benefits: Macy’s is among the retailers who’ve raised wages to a minimum of $15 per hour and, starting in 2022, will cover tuition, books, and fees for employees in certain educational programs.
(7) Face-off over a spinoff: Activist investor Jana Partners is pressuring Macy’s to spin off its e-commerce business, which is expected to hit $10 billion in revenue by 2023. The company says it has hired a consulting firm to look into the impact of a potential split.
(8) Small but mighty: There are currently five Market by Macy’s stores, which are one-sixth the size of the regular stores and offer a curated selection of products.
A version of this article appears in the December 2021/January 2022 issue of Fortune with the headline, “The Conversation: Jeff Gennette.”