Macy’s Inc. will discontinue the Bloomingdale’s By Mail catalog in early 2009 so that it can shift focus of the brand’s direct-to-consumer business to the Bloomingdales.com Web site.
With Bloomingdale’s online sales far outpacing catalog sales in recent years, parent-company Macy’s wants to enhance Bloomingdales.com as a vehicle for the brand. Advertising catalogs produced by Bloomingdale’s’ marketing are unaffected by the announcement.
“As more customers turn to the Web for access to Bloomingdale’s, their shopping experience must be brand-right,” said Michael Gould, Bloomingdale’s chairman and CEO, in a statement. The retailer intends “to implement various enhancements to the Web experience, including ones that can bring to life some of Bloomingdale’s celebrated special events,” he continued.
Eliminating the paper catalog is also consistent with corporate sustainability and environmental policies of communicating more with customers electronically and less in paper, Gould added.
The restructuring will occur incrementally over the next eight months and will seek to reduce redundancies, streamline operations and create a more efficient and focused organization to capitalize on the opportunities within the online business.
Macy’s Inc.’s direct-to-consumer business is expected to exceed $1 billion in sales in 2008. The retailer has opened two 600,000 square foot fulfillment centers in the past year, in Portland, TN, and Goodyear, AZ.
