Macy’s maintains inventory discipline for a solid Q3

Dive Brief: CEO Jeff Gennette on Thursday declared Macy’s Q3 results "further proof that our Polaris strategy first introduced in February of 2020 is working.” The department store’s net sales in the period fell 3.
Link: Macy’s maintains inventory discipline for a solid Q3 | Retail Dive

Neil Saunders going for the jugular:

“Macy’s will disagree with this, and management continually trumpets how the Polaris strategy is working and driving the numbers. We respectfully disagree,” he said, adding that Macy’s central issue remains “abysmal shopkeeping standards and a complete lack of effort in creating a compelling customer experience.”

“From all our extensive channel checks and store visits, Macy’s is one of the worst retailers when it comes to basic shopkeeping standards,” he said. “Management’s statement that ‘retail is detail, and our talented and agile team are executing well to compete’ is so wide of the mark that we find it delusional. It raises a very serious question as to whether Macy’s senior team understand what is happening on the shop floors of their stores. Retail standards are not some nice to have cosmetic feature. They matter.”

Look Macy’s traffic is declining, but their results are not terrible. They are still profitable. 8.4% EBIDTA in this environment is nothing to sneeze at.

Omnichannel 28% and Dropship 18%.

Investor presentation:
https://www.macysinc.com/_assets/_97a18fd4dd55f094e18a5012224859da/macysinc/db/361/14706/pdf/Macy's%2C+Inc.+Third+Quarter+2022+Earnings+Deck+.pdf

Polaris seems to be seen as the silver bullet that can save Macy’s. I cant see it

Their CFO should get a medal as far as I’m concerned. Good stores or no good stores. The fact they are not crushed by bad inventory is an accomplishment.

Maybe they are hiding it off the books lol