No major U.S. department store chain any longer reports monthly same-store sales numbers. That’s probably due to dwindling sales in their brick-and-mortar stores. Who needs the aggravation caused by declining sales numbers and falling stock prices?
Where the stores have been posting gains — albeit from low starting points — is in online sales. A report out Wednesday from Forrester pegs online retail sales (not just from department stores) to rise 14% this year and account for nearly 13% of $3.56 trillion in total retail sales.
Brick-and-mortar department stores — particularly mall-based stores — however, have registered a sales decline of about 6% on average for the trailing four quarters. Meanwhile, e-commerce sales have improved but a shift in revenue generation from a fixed-cost store model to a variable-cost online model has played havoc with margins.
Still, some department stores are doing better than others at generating online traffic and online revenues. Retail research firm eMarketer has published a list of 14 department store chains and the number of followers of each store on various social media outlets, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
Here’s a look at the five department store chains that received the most website visits from all social media sources. We’ve included the percentage of total revenues generated both by the full-line brick-and-mortar stores and by the store’s e-commerce sites in for the years 2012 and 2016. The list is ranked by total website visits.
Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M)
> Total visits: 56.43 million
> Full-line revenues, 2012 and 2016: 90.0%; 82.0%
> E-commerce revenues, 2012 and 2016: 9.9% and 18.7%
Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN)
> Total visits: 48.86 million
> Full-line revenues, 2012 and 2016: 65.6%; 48.7%
> E-commerce revenues, 2012 and 2016: 12.4% and 21.8%
> Note: Nordstrom Rack stores are not included in totals.
Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS)
> Total visits: 40.58 million
> Full-line revenues, 2012 and 2016: 92.5%; 84.6%
> E-commerce revenues, 2012 and 2016: 7.5% and 15.4%
Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD)
> Total visits: 39.78 million
> Full-line revenues, 2012 and 2016: 89.1%; 82.5%
> E-commerce revenues, 2012 and 2016: 7.7% and 9.3%
> Note: Total sales dropped from about $40 billion in 2012 to $22 billion in 2016.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP)
> Total visits: 30.33 million
> Full-line revenues, 2012 and 2016: 92.1%; 87.6%
> E-commerce revenues, 2012 and 2016: 7.9% and 12.4%
The full list of department stores’ social media traffic is available at the eMarketer website.
Get Ready To Retire (Sponsored)
Start by taking a quick retirement quiz from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes, or less.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Get started right here.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
