Adapt or die isn’t just a tenet of evolution: It’s also the reality faced by the U.S. department-store industry. And some are doing it far better than their rivals.
Although the chains are often lumped together with other mall mainstays when lamenting the “retail apocalypse,’’ this past week’s earnings reports underscore just how different department stores’ strategies are amid a wider brick-and-mortar slowdown.
Nordstrom Inc., for instance, posted same-store sales that were almost four times higher than expected after drawing in buyers for both its full-priced and discounted merchandise, powered by a massive anniversary sale. At the other end of the spectrum, CEO-less J.C. Penney Co. saw its stock plunge to historic lows as it put more items on clearance to get rid of excess inventory. And for Macy’s Inc., which beat virtually every estimate set by the market but still disappointed investors, it seems the jury’s still out.
“If you’re not doing well now, you’ll have a hard time when thing slow down,” said Ivan Feinseth, chief investment officer at Tigress Financial Partners. “Right now, we have a 50-year low level of unemployment, you have a consumer that’s flush, a stock market at record levels, a strong housing market and easy and low-cost credit. So you have the Goldilocks environment, or the perfect environment, for the consumer.”
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