Thee Donald Taking a Toll on Women Buyers at Macy*s

What's taking its toll on Macy's?

by Ted Marzilli in BrandIndex News / gov.com

Macy’s Recommend score among US women has declined significantly since mid-November. What is causing the drop? One potential source is the brand’s affiliation with Donald Trump. Trump appears frequently in Macy’s advertising and the retailer carries Trump’s clothing line.

An online petition, reported to have attracted several hundred thousand signatures since mid-November, followed by a protest outside the flagship store in Herald Square has been cited frequently in the media over the last two weeks. During that time, Macy’s has declined to its lowest brand loyalty levels since the first week of November in 2011.

Macy’s loyalty score with women is now behind many of its major competitors, including Target, J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart, Kohls, Sears, Kmart and TJ Maxx.

Macy’s, J.C. Penney and the department and discount store sector were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Recommend score, which asks respondents "Would you recommend the brand to a friend?" Results were filtered for women.

On November 19th, shortly after the media began reporting that the online petition had acquired more than 500,000 signatures, Macy’s recommend score was 31 compared to an average score of 19 for the department and discount store sector. Beleaguered retailer J.C. Penney, for comparison purposes, had a 34 score.

While the actual number of petitioners may be debatable, and the Black Friday protest was relatively modest with perhaps a few dozen consumers taking part, they have certainly attracted a lot of attention. Since that day, Macy’s has shed 14 points to its current 17 score, the same as the average of the department and discount score sector. J.C Penney’s recommend score has actually risen during this same time period, from 34 to 38.

Recommend Scores: Women age 18+