by Kyle Woodley | December 7, 2012 6:45 am
I cringed when several American retailers announced the decision to push up Black Friday openings to Thanksgiving.
Macy’s (NYSE:M[1]) latest holiday move just has me scratching my head.
On Thursday, the department store broke the news that it’s planning a good ol’ late-December shopping slumber party. The details can be read in full here[2], but here are the highlights:
It’s an aggressive tactic that feels out of character for Macy’s, as opposed to discounters like Walmart (NYSE:WMT[3]) and Target (NYSE:TGT[4]). The plan smells of desperation, and appears to have some holes.
For one, Jonathan Berr points out operational concerns[5]:
“… Keeping stores open for 48 hours straight isn’t going to be cheap. The company has a workforce of about 117,000, many of whom are hourly employees. That means that they would presumably have to be paid overtime for working an overnight shift. Of course, there are other costs to consider, such as heat and electricity. There may be insurance issues to consider as well.”
But another issue comes to mind: Who the heck does Macy’s think it’s bringing in with these hours?
Well, the company’s press release states that it’s targeting “last-minute customers.”
Who else? There shouldn’t be any other shoppers left. The 2012 calendar has set us up with the longest holiday shopping season we can possibly have[6], not to mention we included Thanksgiving Day itself into the fray. I can’t imagine that of the people with shopping yet to do, many are planning on waiting for the last two or three days before Christmas.
But I can’t help but wonder whether Macy’s and I have very disparate views of what a last-minute customer is.
For it to be worth the extra man-hours and operational costs of keeping all those stores open, you’d imagine Macy’s is dreaming up hordes of every bad males-at-Christmas stereotype you can think of.
“I haven’t bought any of my wife’s 15 gifts this year! Please, sir, your finest personal shopper, and on the double! To the jewelry department we go!”
Maybe those people still exist, but let’s be realistic. If you are a last-minute shopper, it’s more likely that …
Unlike “Black Fridaysgiving,” I have no moral qualms with Macy’s keeping the cash registers running as long as it pleases during this time frame — short of the potential end of life as we know it Dec. 21[8], there’s nothing hallowed about it.
I just think Macy’s is aggressively pursuing an opportunity that just isn’t there.
Kyle Woodley[9] is the Deputy Managing Editor of InvestorPlace.com[10]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Follow him on Twitter at @IPKyleWoodley[11].
Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/12/macys-holiday-plan-a-24-hour-brain-fart/
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