Transcript - Marc Mastronardi
Season 3, Episode 15
Conversation with Marc Mastronardi, Chief of Stores, Macy’s
Joshua Williams: Retail Revolution a unique podcast that features in depth conversations with guest experts in omni-channel retailing with myriad perspectives: technology, consumer engagement, data analytics, merchandising, and more. We pay special attention to current sociopolitical issues and challenges and their implications on fashion retail, as well as opportunities to innovate and rethink retail's future.
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Retail Revolution is produced by Joshua Williams and hosted by Christopher Lacy. Both are assistant professors in the Fashion Management graduate program at Parsons School of Design.
Christopher Lacy: Our guest today, for more than 20 years, has held a broad range of leadership responsibilities at Macy's, including men's apparel, women's apparel and accessories and children's clothing. In 2020, he was appointed to the role of Chief Stores Officer for the Macy's organization. Prior to this appointment, Marc Mastronardi was executive vice president of business development, leading multiple functions in the creation and expansion of new business concepts, leased partnerships, diverse owner led businesses and the restaurant organization within Macy's across the nation.
Today, this retail revolutionary speaks with us about the future of large format stores, collaboration amongst colleagues and the intersectionality of community and heritage. This is Retail Revolution podcast. And I'm your host, Christopher Lacy.
Marc. Welcome to the show.
Marc Mastronardi: Thanks for having me Christopher.
Christopher Lacy: Thank you for making the time. I know you're a busy man. Chief Stores Officer of Macy's, that's a big role.
Marc Mastronardi: It's, it's awesome. It is one I cherish and really I'm enjoying these days.
Christopher Lacy: Awesome. Would you provide some highlights of your career for our listeners, about your expertise? Tell us a bit about your current position.
Marc Mastronardi: Sure. I think you gave a great intro. I appreciate that. You know, the vast majority of, the first half of my career was in merchandising.
So, I joined the Filene's organization, in Boston, actually as a junior in college, in their intern and training program in their buying offices. I started my career in men's activewear. And, I had the good fortune of, moving into a handful of different roles in the merchant side, early on, as well as an opportunity that I worked with our president in an analyst job. That was a really great platform that gave me purview to the broader organization.
But, I wound up spending a bunch of years early on in women's apparel, in dresses and suits, in the kids' apparel business. I had the chance to then come to New York when Macy's acquired the May Company, and join, again, a whole bunch of different parts of the organization over the next handful of years; some in the planning organization, in ready-to-wear, in intimate apparel.
I spent time in the men's, in handbags, in accessories world, leading some of those functions. And that was before we had combined stores and Macys.com, where we were not yet an integrated retailer, we had separate functions. And had the great privilege of moving over into the .com business in the very early days of our com side and lead our center core in shoes in beauty in handbags in jewelry. And then ultimately, as we brought all of our stores at our .com, it's a one omni universe; had the chance to lead many of those same categories.
And then, into a business innovation, business development world for some time. And really had the chance to explore technology and new business models and the venture capital space, and a whole different set of technology disruptors to the overall retail landscape. And it was a great learning experience. And then as you mentioned, I moved into the stores organization over the last couple of years and since February in my current role, as the chief of the stores organization. So, I get today the privilege of leading over 500 plus of our Macy's stores around the country. I also have the responsibility for our global customer service network between the US and many of our different places overseas. And mostly, I spend my time working and, leading the amazing set of colleagues that make up the, stores team and trying to focus on how we bring together our fashion, with an experience in our store. And do it with, all of the rigor that we've brought to the fashion business as a Macy's retailer for many years.
Christopher Lacy: You said some great words there: disruption and rigor. I think anytime I've ever described my retail career, I always would say, you know, people don't understand the rigor that goes into what we do every day. And that's fashion side. That's retail side. There is something to that.
But when you bring up disruption, the first thing I want to ask you about is how do you see the department, the multi-vendor store, evolving in the next year to two years? This has been something that's been talked about, the last year or so, and now COVID-19 has accelerated this.
Marc Mastronardi: Quite honestly, it's probably been a conversation that's going on for many years. And disruptor is a really good term for the moment. but also, just the change that the industry has gone through over many years. And I think where we're heading, and certainly where we're focused in the short term is on, "how do you bring this seamlessness to the shopping journey in a store model, in the multi-vendor department store approach that you described before, what we do today and bringing fashion from all different places together and doing it in a, physical brick and mortar format, being able to do that in a digital format." And the customer expectation has just moved dramatically in how well connected those things need to be. And that's a challenge; that is the work that all of us, as retailers, are doing to keep up with where the customer is heading and the complexity that comes with that. But, if you've seen any of the commentary, that Macy's has shareed, earlier in, February, around our Polaris Strategy, you hear us talk about the omni experience. And it really is foundational to where we believe we're heading over the next couple of years. I think that really connecting all of those dots is a major differentiator. Not only is it where the customer wants you to go, but because of how hard it is to do it, those that can do it really well can separate, from the balance of the group. And, I think that's where, where we're focused in a really meaningful way.
Christopher Lacy: That's extremely interesting and you've witnessed, when people say the death of brick and mortar, and then, you know, at times you might have to announce, we've got to pull back and close stores. That's all okay. and I think a lot of people have to kind of understand that those are things you do have to do for the health and wellness of the organization as a whole.
And that's why I want to ask you, Macy's is a heritage brand, but you're very much at the forefront of this evolution of how it's going to change. And you mentioned the Polaris Strategy, and I want to give you the opportunity to talk about how Macy's plans to be the forefront of this evolution of brick and mortars.
Marc Mastronardi: I think you said a couple of things that are energizing and exciting about where I see our business, the need for constant innovation, is the part that gets you excited about doing things differently. And that has been foundational to how we've operated as a retailer for 160 plus years. You've always gotta be moving to where the customer is moving. and you see that show up in really different ways. And so I was talking before about the idea of omni and connecting the dots and reducing some of the friction in the journey. Yeah, you can look at very specific things that have come out of that over the last handful of years, between buy online and picking up in store and the, same day delivery. And then even as we went through the COVID impact in the first half of this year, the development of contactless, curbside pickup. All of those things are, kind of on the forefront of how do you continue to react and create an omni experience that works for our customer.
All of that said, there's also major pillar of our strategy around fashion. And so we are a retailer that sells fashion goods. And our focus on ensuring that we have the best fashion, that we've been able to manage our way through all of the complexities that I was describing before of ensuring that while we're curating and we're bringing together the best brands and the newest brands, and also recognize that we've got core brands that our customer has come to love and expect from us ;and be able to balance how we put that out in a combined physical and digital environment that allows the customer to navigate in and out, take advantage of all of those fulfillment options that I described before, in order to show up as a brand, across the country, in any footprint, in any place that we go, that you understand, what we're about.
And really, kind of at the core of all of that, is ensuring that we have the best product. And our teams are deeply, deeply focused on ensuring that we bring to the Marketplace the best fashion.
Christopher Lacy: I want us to go a little bit deeper into that, because as a merchant right now, the landscape is extremely challenging. And I even think, as a customer product is everywhere, so you can always get product. And then as a merchant, and you know this, your role is: how do I make this edit compelling? And, and how does this translate into the shore? And from your experience from being a merchant now, to really being in the store side, what is it that you would probably say to a merchant team that goes, if you think this way or try this, that will kind of ensure this in-store experience is a bit different. Is there anything that you can think of that you would say or want to do in that way?
Marc Mastronardi: Yeah, I think there's a few different things come to mind. One, I'll call it broadly speaking localization. And as a merchant you are faced with all the choices. And I think you described them as the edits. What do you want to have from a brand, from a category? From color, print, pattern, size? All of the things that you can lean into in a local way to make sure that what you're putting into every market, in which you trade, understands the market in which you're in. And speaks to the customer in that market. And it's really those nuances, that make you really relevant and connect to your local customer. And so I think. what I would share to a merchant organization is, you know, being in the stores, understanding what our colleagues on the frontline interacting with our customers, what they know, the intel and the insights that they get from our customer. And then how you can take that and be able to make great decisions that allow you to strategically curate the fashion that tells the story, that as a merchant you're so excited to tell. And obviously the store teams can then help bring that to life. But it's really getting at that insight. And I think the stores have a really good ability to collect that information, share that information and really inform merchants. I for sure know that that was an important part of being a merchant was understanding what our, frontline colleagues, what intel they had that they could share. And I think that that is just as important today, as ever before.
Awesome. So really in summary, it's about how do you take what you do every day and really look at it top line and then we break it down into smaller segments that's meaningful for every single store. And how do we do that so that we can build better communities and create more customer engagement?
Yeah, I think all of that is, right on. And then I think that the fun part of retail today is the complexity of putting all those things together that you just described. Right? Getting the right content into the right place, at the right time, for the right customer. That is really where you start to see the convergence of these pillars of our strategy, of how you bring fashion together in an omni experience, in a way that creates a really rich customer experience.
Christopher Lacy: I'm going to loop Bloomingdale's into this also, because for many of the listeners who might not know, who aren't part of the Macy's organization, Macy's and Bloomingdale's, being in the same group, if you think of just the number of people that both brands service. I mean, that is huge. The customer demographic is extremely large. This is a challenge. And with this challenge is also a movement of "less is more." Because you have a group of people in that demographic with economic uncertainty.
So right now, when you think about the business, when you think about the merchant team and the store teams, how can there be this ability to attract the new customer and also maintain the current one?
Marc Mastronardi: Yeah, I think, we get the unique privilege of having a brand, whether that is Macy's or Bloomingdale's, as you mentioned, that that serves a very broad audience.
And, in each of our different categories, within each of our different brands, there are definitely differences in who we serve, but the headline of what you shared at the beginning is that it's a large audience. And so, in the context of trying to serve as big an audience, how do you make sure that, you can acquire a new customer and continue to retain and serve the one that shops with you today?
And, I think maybe the encouraging part of that is that there is a lot of commonality across a lot of the customer base. And so while the level of fashion might be different, and while the sizing might be different in a market, or maybe the price point is different between brands or retailers, there's a lot of common behavior, between shoppers and it really comes down to wanting a retailer that is for somebody like them, and has an idea of what they're looking for.
So, as we think about differentiating the way that I described at a local level and understanding the difference between a Macy's or Bloomingdale's, we're also really, really focused on what are the common grounds that we can create for customers, regardless of any of those other differences. And, can we make a shopping experience that is highly connected? Can we tie the dots together between our brick and mortar businesses and in our digital businesses to give you something that is much more seamless? Can we deliver a story that is personalized? We understand you and, and we know what you look for when you engage with our brand and we can deliver against that. And then can we provide you the customer service at the end of the day that is unique to you, but is aligned to the things that you need from us? And what you find is if all of those things that I just described, those are really common whether it's a customer that is a core customer of ours, or that is a customer that, we're looking to acquire. A lot of those needs are very consistent. And so that's really where our energy and our efforts and the strategy that we are focused on. You know, we get a product base that is also really broad. And so, as we were talking about it before, being a destination for fashion, and having a brand like Macy's or like Bloomingdale's that can play in a lot of different areas as a department store, really gives us the opportunity and the flexibility to bring in many different brands, many different product categories, curate fashion, market by market, in a way that tells a really compelling story. And again, when we bring that to life in our stores, and our colleagues understand it, and our colleagues can support that same level of storytelling to go with what the merchant product vision was, then we can deliver against whether you're a part of a very big demographic that we serve, whether that is, in a less is more world. And how do you get at new and maintain.
I think if we do the foundational things, as well as continue to work towards, I think we have the opportunity to serve a lot of customers well.
Christopher Lacy: Yeah. I think you bring up a lot of great points there when it comes to being able to kind of connect all these dots. The other part of it is the "less is more," and then really being able to allow merchants to tell the story the way they need to tell it with the merchandise, and then be able to have it stocked in all of those locations, so that the store teams feel supported.
And one of the biggest challenges I remember hearing visiting stores, and I'm sure you hear it too, is "we really wish we would have gotten this item" or "We didn't get this; we really wish we would've gotten more of this product." And so, I don't know if you hear that a lot when you're going to stores.
Marc Mastronardi: For sure. Yeah, our store teams have lots of insight of what they wanted more or less of, and need differently; it really comes to what their customers ask them about. So, they have a lot of Intel on that front.
Christopher Lacy: Right. So with that, what are the ways that you're starting to create at Macy's to create this better synergy for stronger sales results, in customer engagement, between your colleagues that are in corporate and the colleagues that are in store?
There's the idea of store visits now, COVID-19 limits that quite a bit. So, where are you at with that to make sure that that synergy is on point, because there's not a lot of room for error anymore, right?
Marc Mastronardi: Yeah. I'd share a few different thoughts on that topic.
So, one is COVID we've innovated on that front and the way that we do virtual store visits is really compelling and allows us to get into the store in a way that the colleagues and the leaders of the store and the leaders in the regions, can share that information with us.
But there's also technology investments that we're working, continue to invest in, on a level of personalization that helps us understand consumer behavior through a lot of the ways they've interacted with us. And a bunch of that might be through their digital experience on our Macys.com or Bloomingdales.com. And then when they go into a store and make a purchase, or they make a return, or a transaction, that happens in our store. And the more that we are able to connect those dots, even from a technology perspective and in the backend, it gives us a lot of insight and intel into what customers want. But there is still no replacing some of the real boots on the ground insight from our leaders. And we're very fortunate that we have terrific store leadership teams. We have great colleagues that lead different functions inside the store. And we have region leaders, for many of our different businesses that are field leaders, boots on the ground that also help funnel that information back into the right decision makers on the merchant team, or even back into our digital teams, to understand the impact that our customers telling us about in their .com experience.
So, there's a bunch of different things that guide us and support us. And there's a spot that we continue to invest, and make sure that there is a really good pathway of communication between what our customers share with us, through our colleagues and our website and what our merchant teams learn so that they could take action against that information.
Christopher Lacy: Great. So really, it's about collaboration amongst colleagues, creating these moments that allow you to be nimble, because you're listening to each other. And that's what's probably needed more than anything right now in our industry.
Marc Mastronardi: I think that's very well said, Christopher.
Christopher Lacy: So, I want to talk about another aspect of Macy's that is, you all are doing quite a few initiatives and I want to make sure that our listeners and everyone understands.
I just read about what you all are doing with, Make-A-Wish and allowed a six year old to design her own dress. And it was down in Texas, in Austin. And that's amazing. You're selling the dress, it's exclusively online and then in a few stores. And some of the proceeds are going to Make-A-Wish. Am I correct?
Marc Mastronardi: You are correct. Yeah.
Christopher Lacy: I have to say, I love the fact that this was something that you all decided to do because we talk about personalization and customization, I think this is really the future of it, right? I think, people wanting to kind of design their own thing and make that happen.
But on the other side of that, the importance of community and authenticity. Those are words that we've heard a lot lately. And I want to ask you, when it comes to community and authenticity, inclusion; because it's been the spotlight for the fashion industry for so long, how does this conversation impact the internal customer? And the external customer for Macy's? I mean, you guys are doing these things in the community. You're also doing 15% pledge, which I'd love for you to talk about as well. So I'd love to get your thoughts on Macy's and their point of view with this.
Marc Mastronardi: Yeah. So, lots of great things inside of your question. So first of all, I appreciate the comment on the Make-A-Wish, story for the Belief Campaign for this holiday. I think, if you haven't seen it, anyone that hasn't seen it, I, I encourage you to check out YouTube and find the video, cause it's really at the heart of bringing together a community, and our ability to be inclusive and supportive in ways beyond just what we do from our business every day. And, I think, that Belief Campaign and "I Believe" story is a really good one. You said it well, we have the little girl and her family, and we're able to design a dress for all of them and have it on our website, have it in a bunch of our stores. And it's really, it's a really powerful moment of just recognizing what an impact you can have. as a brand. Beyond that, I would share that, especially our stores, they're the heart of many of the communities in which we operate today. and we've been there for a very long time. We are deeply rooted in all of these communities. And we've got a rich history of supporting one another. Obviously our colleagues make up those communities. But when you get the time to be in the stores and you listen to the colleagues and our customers talk about what that community means to them, it is a really important reminder for just how diverse our workforce, our communities ,and our colleagues, are. And how important the focus on inclusion really is. And so, in addition to what, happens on a local effort, that's also incredibly important to our central teams. and the amount of energy as an organization, that all of us have, and continue to put into our diversity and inclusion efforts, it isn't for it being a point in time. And it is really because it's who our customers and our colleagues are. Fundamentally, who we are as a company is built around the people that make up our company and the people that we serve in our communities. And that is a very broad and very diverse customer base and workforce base. And so we put a tremendous amount of energy on making sure that we do that. And so I think you'll hear and see much like you saw in the commercial or the story with Make-A-Wish and, and the efforts that we've made publicly over the course of the last handful of months of just how essential diversity and inclusion efforts are to our culture, to our core value, recognizing that it's what inspires and reflects and embraces everyone that makes up our brand.
You'll continue to hear that, be a a vocal position for us. And then I'd also just share personally, as a leader in our store's organization and having had the chance to see and know what our colleagues and our customers do for one another in our stores, creating an environment that is deeply diverse and inclusive is a focal initiative of mine. And it's certainly something I'm very proud of that we've been able to do over many years and expect that. We have a welcoming and inviting environment that we'd love everybody to be a part of.
Christopher Lacy: The thing about Macy's is, I think most people can remember that they went to Macy's for something, whether it is graduation, a gift for someone's maybe Quincenaira, your first apartment that you didn't have to buy Ikea furniture, nothing against Ikea. You know, there are these moments in time. And so, when we see kind of the landscape of large retailers struggling, one of the things we don't see with Macy's is that, because you've really engrossed yourself in community. And would you say that's part of the success of what your store line teams, plus the merchant teams, are able to convey out to the consumer.
Marc Mastronardi: Absolutely. You know, I think it comes back to, from a product perspective, that's what we do. We are a fashion retailer, and whether that is fashion of apparel or that is fashion of your home, or that is the fashion of beauty, fashion of jewelry, we are fundamentally about the fashion business.
But then to bring that to life and create emotional connection with a customer around those products, where lots of products can be found in lots of different places, I think it comes back to the experience that you have with our brand, and that emotional connection to create a brand for someone like me. And that is often and meaningfully the role that our stores and the colleagues that make up our stores provide with our customers. So, I think it's one of the reasons you describe who we are, the way that you do. And it's one of the reasons that has helped us to be successful in navigating this changing landscape as much as we have.
Christopher Lacy: Well, that brings me to really wanting to ask you, there are people who probably haven't engaged with Macy's at all, and may have a perception of Macy's, a perception of what it's like to have to shop through a multi-vendor store. There's a lot of product. Can I find it, you know, being overwhelmed. What do you want someone who has never shopped at a Macy's, or has a preconceived notion of it; what do you want them to know about the brand and what the in-store experience is really about?
Marc Mastronardi: Yeah. Well, thank you for the opportunity to create a commercial for our brand. So, let me start by saying, on kind of the wrap up to, the idea of diversity and inclusion. You had asked about the 15% Pledge, a moment ago. And I think, just broadly speaking, you're going to see and continue to see information on the fashion front,of how we engage with diverse communities. And we've got a program, the Workshop at Macy's, that is one that I have been associated with and, the team that leads that for many years; and giving opportunity to diverse and female led businesses. We are continuing, to push those initiatives to continue to bring in diverse business partners and designers and product that, that again is built to connect to our community. So I say that as the answer to your second question of, you know, if you've never shopped with us, what can you expect?
So, first is you can expect that we're constantly trying to push for the fashion element for our customers. And whether that is the trend that's important for the moment, the brands that are most relevant, the opportunity to introduce new products, new players, and new designers into the mix; our merchant teams are, are deeply focused on that. And I expect that when you get there, you'll find that there is an awesome opportunity for discovery in our stores.
The second thing that I hope that you'll see is, we're a brand that is rich in creating experiences and probably you know us for the iconic things that we do, the Thanksgiving Day parade, the 4th of July fireworks, but we bring that same level of energy into creating experiences in our store. And whether that is an experience of how the visual merchandising is done to inspire your shopping trip, or whether that is special events that we're running around any part of our business in the beauty world, the jewelry world, whether that is events that connect back to our communities and partnerships with local charities. And, there's almost always something going on in our stores. And I think, the combination of being able to bring the best fashion product together with a really engaging customer experience when you get there is going to be enjoyable. And when you get there, every time you do, I expect that you're going to constantly see us changing and innovating and looking for ways to create that, level of emotional connection, whether that is back to omni experiences, because we're connecting the dots between your entire shopping trip more seamlessly, we're making service easier, we're investing in health and safety to ensure in the moment that you're in our stores today, that the environment makes you feel good from that perspective.
And I think that when you get there, you're also going to find access to a whole bunch of really great content that maybe you didn't know that we had, if you haven't been with us before. But I, think it will leave you excited and certainly wanting to come back for more.
Christopher Lacy: Thank you so much, Marc. Marc last question. How can our listeners stay up to date with either what you're doing or what's happening at Macy's?
Marc Mastronardi: Yeah, you can always visit us on a Macys.com, Bloomingdales.com. Follow us on Instagram on both of those; constantly adding new and engaging content.
Christopher Lacy: Fantastic!
Marc. Thank you so much for your time today. And we look forward to speaking to you again soon.
Marc Mastronardi: Sounds good. I appreciate it, Christopher.
Joshua Williams: Thank you for listening to this episode of Retail Revolution. A very special thank you to everyone who has helped make this podcast possible. If you'd like to support the work we're doing, please visit our show page at RetailRevolutionPodcast.com and click on the donate link. Our theme music was composed by Spencer Powell.
Be well and stay tuned for our next episode.
