Does The Macy's Nameplate Have National Appeal? Is The May Corp Merger Working?

Implications: -Launching Macy's as a National Retailer has major ramifications in the Department Store Sector with both Manufacturers and Consumers. -The May Corp Merger has been, on balance, a failure for Federated and has, and will continue to hurt the overall Federated Business. 

Analysis: In my opinion, Federated made the correct move in segmenting their business into Bloomingdales and Macy's. 
The Macy's nameplate has National Appeal. The name Macy's has had a presence on the East Coast, West Coast, South and Mid West for many years. The difference now is that the buying is centralized as opposed to having multiple buying centers. All Macy's is doing is taking a page out of the most successful retailers today- JC Penney, Kohls and Target, all being National Chains with centralized buying.

The problem Macy's has is not changing the Federated Nameplates to Macy's, but the May Merger which has cost them dearly. May Department Stores is and has always been a highly promotional Mid Tier Department Store catering to the "Middle America Consumer". The Federated Chain has successfully upgraded their assortments over a period of time and cater to the more Fashion Minded Upscale Consumer. By merging the May Doors into the Macy's Nameplate, Macy's Offerings with Less Promotional Activity, they have turned off the May Consumer, at considerable cost to Macy's Corp. These consumers have gravitated to Kohls and JC Penney's who have aggressively gone after the May Consumer.

In my opinion, due to the merger, Macy's Corp. will go thru a difficult period of time before they get back on track. I think they are going to have to take an in depth look at their assortments and approach to doing business and figure out a way to get that May Consumer back into Macy. Though sledding ahead!!!