Macy's is pledging to issue plenty of coupons for the holiday shopping season. For years, the 410 department stores that Macy's acquired and renamed last year--venerable brands like Marshall Field's
and Filene's--had relied on coupons to lure people to shop. As part of its reinvention, Macy's tried to wean shoppers off the 15-20% enticements. The tactic backfired as thousands of people from
Washington to Los Angeles turned their backs on the chain.
CEO Terry Lundgren--who is trying to create a new kind of national department store that will no longer compete head-to-head with
lower-priced competitors like JCPenney and Kohl's--says the changes amounted to "too much, too fast." Despite their dowdy image, coupons remain a huge business. In 2006, companies issued 279 billion
of them--or roughly 1,000 per person--up 13% in four years, according to NCH Marketing Services.
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