Macy’s, Inc. rewrites the ending with updates on ‘Bold New Chapter’

The “Bold New Chapter” of Macy’s, Inc., continues to be a page turner. Close to a year after the company began executing its new growth strategy, its iconic nameplates have continued to innovate, evolve and gain strength.

A keynote session at NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show featured Tony Spring, chairman and CEO, Macy’s, Inc.; Olivier Bron, CEO, Bloomingdale’s; and Maly Bernstein, CEO, Bluemercury. The talk was moderated by CNBC's Courtney Reagan and sponsored by American Express.

Spring began with a rundown of the strategy to “reimagine the Macy’s, Inc., portfolio.” Strengthening the Macy’s nameplate meant listening to 60,000 active and inactive customers to discover what they were looking for in a shopping experience with the company. They wanted better merchandise assortment, a better service experience, a better visual experience, a modern take on marketing and a quicker supply chain — “some of the fundamentals of retail,” he said.

The Bold New Chapter has also been about accelerating luxury growth; Bluemercury has had 15 quarters of comp store sales growth. There was also great growth in both Bluemercury and Bloomingdale’s in the third quarter, Spring said.

“We said that 2024 was a transition and investment year, and as we’re getting ready to close the year and close the quarter, I’m pleased with the progress that we’re making,” he said. “We’re also mindful of the fact that we’ve learned a lot along the way, and we’ll go into 2025 more informed, more educated, better prepared to return Macy’s, Inc., to sustainable, profitable growth.”

Bluemercury’s success, Bernstein said, goes back to what the company is known for: creating custom beauty plans. So, it invested in education and training to elevate that experience. In addition, there’s curation that’s based on results, helping clarify and reinforce its authority in professional skin care and launching into fragrances. The Bluemercury rebrand underpins its position in luxury beauty for modern consumers, she said.

“In a world where tech continues to grow, we’re prioritizing the human,” she said. “We are reinforcing the connection, and we’re using tech to further the relationship.”

Bron, meanwhile, spoke about luxury and developing customer relationship. Luxury is not just about the product, he said. It’s also about the experience and the story, and that is what Bloomingdale’s continues to build.

Reagan asked whether Macy’s should spin out or sell off Bluemercury or Bloomingdale’s to unlock their value, as it’s not being recognized in the share price. Spring agreed that Macy’s is not getting recognition for the value of the two brands. That said, there is the question of what’s right for the overall company.

“We continue to believe there are synergies that are leveraged between the three brands, between warehousing, legal, finance, back-end operations, joint brand negotiation,” he said. “There’s just so much opportunity for us to kind of leverage the scale of the portfolio.”

Macy’s needs the strength of the combined value, he said. But the company will also make sure that neither of the brands becomes the other.

And as for the idea that department stores are a “tired” format? “The key to remember is the department store, essentially, is the curation of choice,” Spring said. “We all love choice.”