Department store chain Macy's Inc. is set to increase investment in its growth initiatives as it bids to improve the performance of its brick-and-mortar portfolio, Fortune reported on Feb. 27.
Macy's plans to pump $1.05 billion into capital expenditure in 2018, $150 million more than in 2017, as it attempts to build on its first year-over-year improvement in quarterly sales in three years, according to the report.
Its focus will be on its Growth50 plan, which involves rolling out successful initiatives implemented at its store in Woodbridge, N.J., to 50 stores that represent a broad cross-section of its fleet. These measures, which have included mobile checkout in store and new lighting, could be extended to hundreds of stores in 2019.
Other ideas that have yielded positive results include the implementation of a bonus pool for workers who meet targets and the allocation of space in stores for Backstage, an off-price concept, which is being extended to 100 outlets in 2018.
In an interview, Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said the performance of the company's stores needed to improve to support its fast-growing online business, which has produced double-digit percentage growth for 34 quarters in succession. "That has to be coupled with a healthy brick-and-mortar business," he was quoted as saying.
