Macy’s officially launches its marketplace
Macy’s joins a growing list of top retailers that operate a marketplace alongside their ecommerce site. Macy’s says the marketplace will boost their product assortment, add incremental revenue at a ‘low incremental cost.’
Macy’s Inc. announced Sept. 28 that it officially launched its marketplace. The retail chain announced in November 2021 that it would launch one, and it has been working on it since then.
The marketplace will bolster Macys.com’s assortment, as it is adding 400 brands across 20 product categories. Those include apparel, beauty, home improvement, toys and pet products.
Macys.com notes a product is sold by a marketplace merchant with the “shipped and sold by” text at the top of the product detail page, beneath the product name. Shoppers should feel “minimal difference” in the overall shopping experience, the retailer says.
Macy’s says marketplaces sales will continue to be counted in the Macy’s loyalty program, however there are some restrictions when using loyalty points for marketplace purchases, according to a Macy’s spokesperson.
Returns, however, operate differently. Shoppers can’t return items to a Macy’s store and have to return products to a seller within 30 days, Macys.com’s FAQ page shows. This is a deviation from the merchant’s typical 90-day return policy to stores or by mail.
Customers are encouraged to ship returns directly back via UPS, but our stores are available to assist our customers if needed, the spokesperson says.
“Our digital business is targeted to generate $10 billion in sales by 2023,” said Matt Baer, chief digital and customer officer, in the 2021 press release announcing the marketplace. “And we expect the new marketplace platform to produce incremental revenue on top of that target.”
Macy’s has selected the marketplace software provider Mirakl to build its marketplace. Macy’s declined to reveal the cost of building the marketplace.
Retail chains launching a third-party marketplace is a recent trend. For example, Target Corp. (No. 5 in the Top 1000) launched its marketplace in 2019.