As Macy’s Stores Went Away, So Did Its Newspaper Ads

Macy's Ad Decline

Aside from classified advertising, retail advertising is one of the pillars of newspaper advertising. But as Alan Mutter points out, citing data from TNS and AdAge, Macy’s has cut the amount of newspaper ad spending in half over the past four years. While classified ad dollars have largely shifted to online sites like Craigslist, Macy’s migration away from newspapers has more to do with specific business decisions that make it difficult to imagine newspapers recapturing those lost retail dollars.

Back to 2005: When Macy’s, then known as Federated, merged with Mays department stores in 2005, the two were buying a combined $1.2 billion worth of newspaper ads. At that time, Macy’s operated about 400 stores, while May’s ran roughly 500. Three years later, the combined entity, which has roughly 800 stores, spent just $583.3 million with newspapers, a drop of 51.4 percent. That decline reflected two things: a cutback in stores combined with cost slashing all around. After the merger was complete, Macy’s closed a number of “redundant” stores across the country, which hit local papers hard. This past January, Macy’s said it would close another 11 stores nationwide, AP reported at the time.

Going national: In addition to store closings, since the merger, Macy’s strategy is focused on making the department store chain more of a national brand — shutting off the individual identities that sometimes meant multiple Sunday inserts for different brands. That alsp has meant a shift from local newspapers to more TV and magazines. That change has been starkly reflected in Macy

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post