Karen Hoguet, Chief Financial Officer for Macy’s, is proud of the major strides the company has made since 2008 in the area of customer engagement, and she believes there is a new and better level of CRM on the horizon.
During Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, Hoguet talked about the company’s commitment to its MOM strategy, which stands for My Macy's, Omnichannel, and MAGIC Selling.
“In these past six years, we have made enormous strides in adopting and involving localization, creating a truly omnichannel business with seamless integration across stores, online, and mobile and deepening customer engagement through MAGIC selling,” Hoguet said, according to Seeking Alpha.
Fourth-quarter sales increased 1.8%, to $9.364 billion, but Hoguet has her eyes on the future.
“The upcoming acquisition of Bluemercury creates an entirely new channel to reach additional customer segments, while also helping to grow beauty in our base business,” Hoguet added. “As exciting and gratifying as the first two phases have been, this new phase we have entered has the opportunity to take our company to a whole new level of success. We have the ability to create a larger relationship with existing customers and make inroads with customers that have not traditionally shopped either Macy's or Bloomingdale’s.”
MAGIC Selling requires new sales associates to attend a three-and-a-half-hour session when they start at the company, as opposed to watching a 90-minute interactive video in a booth, as associates previously did. It also includes seasonal refresher courses and coaching from managers while they are on the sales floor. To monitor their progress and set quantifiable goals, associates receive weekly scorecards.
What’s more, MAGIC Selling also includes seasonal refresher courses and coaching from managers while they are on the sales floor. Under Macy’s previous sales training program, associates were given scripted steps in making a sale, such as smiling, thanking the customer, and always using the word “outstanding.”
Under Magic−an acronym which stands for Meet and make a connection; Ask questions and listen; Give options and give advice; Inspire to buy; and Celebrate the purchase−sales associates are instructed to make more natural connections with shoppers. As part of the My Macy’s customer engagement tool, Macy’s identified its best customers and focused on developing and retaining their loyals−the shoppers who buy and visit most frequently. To truly personalize the experience, the company has implemented the My Macy’s store localization model, focused on omni-channel integration, and emphasized associate training.
“Having now reached one of the industry’s highest profitability rates, we are focusing ourselves on accelerating top-line sale growth while maintaining this best-in-class profitability rate,” Hoguet said. “You have seen us restructure merchandising and marketing with an omichannel view of our customer, inventories, and business. We also brought all of our technology functions under one senior leader. We have aligned all the elements of our base business so we can act faster and be quicker to make decisions in driving organic growth, and we also now set up a new structure with top talent to foster innovation and new business opportunities such as international and off price.”