What makes macy special

To this end, the division operates small-ticket and large-ticket distribution centers, coordinates transportation and shuttle deliveries, and handles vendor returns and merchandise liquidation. In early , the MLO Senior Leadership team was looking for the right strategy to move the business to the next level and identified Six Sigma as the right system to drive critical change initiatives. First was to accelerate business results with double-digit growth, year over year.

Greater efficiencies were driven by systematically focusing on waste, defects and rework. And to increase overall customer satisfaction—including both stores and shoppers—they targeted improvement in key service factors such as timely and complete delivery. A parallel and more long-range objective was to drive a new business culture based on a combination of data-driven thinking, customer focus, continuous improvement and boundary-less collaboration.

Finally, the effort aimed to strengthen the talents of MLO leaders and managers by developing skills of high potential individuals, helping them drive change efforts and solve tough problems as a team. The effort evolved from a few pilot projects to a diverse array of efforts focused on critical issues in such areas as product breakage, delivery scheduling, store construction planning and execution, and vendor management.

The early results were positive, but the real benefits have been achieved by sustaining the effort and integrating the improvement mindset and skills into the business. To achieve the more ambitious culture and talent goals outlined early on, MLO built on the foundation of projects and financial results by establishing a network of Business Process Teams, linked by aligned goals and measures, which created a new set of responsibilities for MLO managers.

See sidebar. The Logistics and Operations group actually was able to exceed the targeted cost savings it was tasked with delivering, and sooner than the anticipated date. The newest challenge faced by MLO is again prompting the organization to seek to upgrade its processes and leadership. The digital, and, specifically, the smartphone revolution has led the charge.

More than simply passively connected devices, the smartphone is now the device of choice — acting more like a personal assistant than a research tool — for the shopper, whether in-store or out. Increasingly, customers are expecting to be able to complete all phases of the shopping cycle using whichever device they have to hand, either in-store or at home, and indeed either in-person or online.

The most sophisticated retailers are facilitating this, with their ongoing strategies geared increasingly towards enabling customers to convert via any channel. And this is simply because the most valuable customers are those that buy both in-store and online. Download the Full Free Innovation Report featuring other case studies from the top innovators in retail. We strive to have a degree view of the customer. He cites that the reason the omnichannel approach will, in the end, prove to be more successful than the likes of the purely digital, as historically offered by the likes of Amazon , is down to the convenience and organisation of purchase and pickup.

Research has shown that about two-thirds of all shopping trips today start online with customers researching the options at their desktops or on smartphones or tablets.

Then, the customers often come into the store to touch, feel and try-on the merchandise they saw.