By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–Jeff Kantor will lead the home business as general merchandise manager of home at Macy’s, Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s, told HFN.
Kantor most recently served as president of furniture for Macy’s Home Store, the centralized home buying division that will effectively be eliminated when it is integrated into Macy’s national merchandising, stores and marketing organizations.
The restructuring is part of Macy’s plans to cut 40 percent of its executive staff in a move to cut 7,000 positions (4 percent of its workforce) and eliminating its divisional structure and the New York-based Macy’s Home Store and Macy’s Corporate Marketing divisions.
Kantor was picked to lead Macy’s home business as he has done “an outstanding job” with Macy’s furniture business, “one of the most complicated and challenging businesses in America,” Lundgren said. At Macy’s he has “delivered results quarter after quarter in big ticket.”
Kantor will report to Jeffrey Gennette, who becomes chief merchandising officer, overseeing all buying and merchandising functions for Macy’s nationwide.
Gennette is currently chairman and CEO of Macy’s West.
Timothy Adams, currently chairman and CEO of Macy’s Home Store, will become chief private brand officer.
The Home Store division was formed in 2004 when Macy’s consolidated the separate home buying functions of its various divisions into a single merchandising organization.
Although the division is being eliminated, home “has a leg up versus the rest of the store because they are already buying nationally,” Lundgren said.
With centralized buying, the home business has seen “tremendous improvements in terms of relative performance versus the rest of the store,” Lundgren said. “The big challenge was that home was centralized but the rest of the company was not. They were constantly struggling with marketing, challenged for floor space.”
Those issues will be resolved now that there will be a single merchandising organization “working all together,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren would not comment on how the home buying team would be affected by the restructuring. A spokesman said that Macy’s is just beginning the process of evaluating positions.
In the new structure, My Macy’s, the organizational arm the retailer started testing in 20 markets last year to localize assortments, will be expanded across the U.S. and will also be instrumental in helping to tailor the home mix for regions with distinct local tastes, Lundgren said.
Vice Chair Susan Kronick, who currently oversees Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s retail divisions, will co-lead the My Macy’s integration with Thomas Cole, currently vice chair of Macy’s, who becomes chief administrative officer. Kronick plans to retire in early 2010.
Macy’s Merchandising Group will be renamed Macy’s Private Brands, headed up by Adams. Vice Chair Janet Grove, also currently chairman and CEO of Macy’s Merchandising Group, will facilitate the transition of merchandising, planning and private brand development functions until her retirement in mid-2011.
Looking ahead, “The home business has got to be the driver of traffic in our stores,” Lundgren said. “That’s historically the role played by home.”