Photos: Rebecca Fitts, Instagram @thewildwestofretail
There were high hopes for “The Market @ Macy’s” when the retailer launched its turnkey in-store pop-up concept earlier this year. Now, the department store retailer is adding the concept to new stores and looking to take the buzz surrounding The Market to a new social level via a partnership with Facebook.
Yesterday, Macy’s announced that it was expanding the Market to two more of its locations, one at the Lenox Mall in Atlanta and the other at Century City in Los Angeles, to bring its total to 12 across the country. The chain has added the concept to its most heavily trafficked stores, including its Herald Square flagship in New York. The new pop-up areas will also be larger — nearly double the size of the first Market spaces, CNBC reports.
In nine of the Market shops, Macy’s is partnering with Facebook, which will place nearly 150 e-commerce brands in the path of the department store’s customers.
“Macy’s shoppers will have the chance to meet businesses such as Love Your Melon that sells hats and apparel to help in the fight against pediatric cancer or Charleston Gourmet Burger Company that started from a backyard barbecue and has expanded to reach customers in all 50 states,” said Michelle Klein, director of North America marketing, Facebook, in a statement.
Macy’s has pitched its Market concept as a turnkey operational solution, enabling companies to gain additional exposure to the department store’s customers without a long-term commitment. Those opening pop-ups pay for the space, but do not share revenue with Macy’s. Space is rented with a one-month minimum requirement and rates are based on location.
In addition to the Market/Facebook news, Macy’s highlighted its use of virtual and augmented reality tech in stores.
By early November, Macy’s expects to have completed the launch of VR for Furniture in 69 Macy’s stores across the country. The chain has seen the overall furniture basket sizes in stores with the virtual reality tech climb 60 percent higher than those without it. Customers using the technology are also less likely to return purchases, with the percentage of returns in VR stores falling to below two percent of all transactions. Another benefit of the technology is it allows Macy’s to feature more of its furniture selection without taking up space on the sales floor.
Macy’s is also using AR in furniture. The retailers launched the “Visualize Your Space” app to enable customers using iOS devices to see how various pieces of furniture would work in their actual living spaces. The chain plans to add an Android version of the app in 2019.
Beauty is another area where Macy’s is using technology to improve the customer experience. The chain is using in-store virtual mirror technology to expose customers to more than 250 beauty items and use a kiosk to see how they would look using the products. The technology is currently available at 250 of the chain’s stores and Macy’s testing a similar feature on its mobile app.