Macy’s Re-Commits To Merged Channel In An Important Way
Written by Evan SchumanIt seems that Macy’s has taken advantage of the retirement of a senior executive to consolidate power to help its ongoing merged-channel strategies. Macy’s created a new C-level position and promoted its EVP for omnichannel strategy to Chief Omnichannel Officer (COO is already taken, so who knows what acronym it will get). It also gave the new chief (which, at Macy’s, is a higher rank than EVP) control over IT and logistics.
This power consolidation happened when Thomas L. Cole retired as chief administrative officer following a 41-year career at Macy’s (and companies that Macy’s acquired). That gave Macy’s the ability to promote Robert B. “RB” Harrison from EVP for omnichannel strategy to his new chief role.
“Among his duties, Tom has been responsible for systems and logistics for many years. As Tom’s duties were re-assigned, it was decided that systems and logistics fit best under R.B. Harrison, given the increasing omnichannel nature of our business,” said Jim Sluzewski, Macy’s SVP of corporate communications. “In that process, R.B. was promoted to a chief and he joined the company’s executive committee. Tom’s retirement was the trigger point.”
Harrison will now report directly to Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren. He had been reporting to Cole.
From the Macy’s statement: “In addition to his existing role managing the development of strategies to closely integrate the company’s stores, online and mobile activities, Harrison will assume responsibility for systems and technology, logistics and related operating functions.”
This change is important in that it sends—or perhaps we should say reinforces—a message supporting the merged-channel strategy that Macy’s has been pushing for years. This type of corporate consolidation is critical, because it gives one executive the ability to set policy for almost all the units that have to come together to make merged channels truly work.
One nitpick, though. It’s hard to take Macy’s merged-channel strategy too seriously as long as it sticks with the strange omnichannel term. It sounds like something that should be next to the Syfy Channel on a cable box, perhaps as the cable division for Omni Magazine.
Cards issued by European banks when used online cross border don't usually support AVS checks. So, when a European card is used with a billing address that's in the US, an ecom merchant wouldn't necessarily know that the shipping zip code doesn't match the billing code.
-Marc
