Macy's 2001 Annual Report Download - page 8

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New init iat ives t o grow sales are f ocused on improving t he depart ment st ore merchan-
dising by narrowing assort ment s, and of f ering more newness and exclusive it ems.
We also will be simplifying t he shopping experience and st rengt hening marketing
support . We believe t hese eff ort s will build deeper relat ionships wit h customers and
increase t he att ractiveness of our st ores as shopping destinat ions of choice.
We expect t o signif icantly narrow our store assort ment s in 2002 and t o reduce t he
amount of excess invent ory on t he sales f loor. This will help sharpen and clarif y
our approach t o cust omers, result ing in a f ocused, more compelling off ering on
our selling f loors. It also will enable us t o part ner more closely wit h select ed
national- brand vendors t o develop new and exclusive merchandise. Because of
our st rong partnerships in t he marketplace, many of t hese vendors are eager t o
support Federat ed’s desire t o of f er unique, dif f erent iat ed product s in our st ores,
and we great ly appreciat e and value t hese relat ionships.
Going f orward, privat e brand and privat e label merchandise will play a larger role
t han ever in dif f erent iating our merchandise of f ering and delivering superior value
t o t he cust omer. Our strong private brands – including Charter Club, I.N.C,
Alf ani, The Cellar, Greendog, Style & Co., Jennif er M oore, First Impressions, Tools of
t he Trade and Arnold Palmer – will cont inue t o grow t heir presence t hroughout
t he st ore wit h new lines, merchandising programs, sales promot ions and market ing
innovat ion. Tasso Elba and Glen Royal are new privat e labels developed t o address
Making
The choice between st anding st ill or st epping out f rom t he
eit her approach, one t hing is cert ain: st anding st ill gets
purposeful st rides on a number of f ront s in pursuit of creati
■ Ult imat ely, it ’s all about growing sales and increasing p
business pract ices in ways t hat leverage our st rengt hs and c
To refine our merchandising app