What: The retailer is expanding its off-price division with 10 new stores scheduled to be open within the next two months.

Why it is important: The move comes as the off-price segment is performing well as consumers become more conscious of their spending due to inflation and economic uncertainty.

With the expansion, Backstage will now have 319 locations, with 310 of them being located inside Macy’s department stores and nine being freestanding locations.

In its Q4 earnings report, Macy’s reported that Backstage store-within-a-store locations outperformed full lines stores by 2 percentage points. Additionally, 18% of customers at the store-in-store locations cross-shopped and Backstage customers drove 32% of the building sales.

Customers who shopped both Backstage and full line shop 6.6 times a year in comparison to 3.2 times a year for all shoppers.

Based on data from selected off-price chains, the overall off-price category was up 5.7% during the first quarter of this year.

In January, foot traffic to these chains had also increased by double digits according to analytics from Placer.ai, who also reported that Macy’s with Backstage locations are outperforming stores without the off-price offering.

The off-price offering gives the retailer the opportunity to create a unique space where customers can shop the fullness of its brand, from treasure hunting for bargains to a full-scale department store with luxury brands.

Macy’s adds 10 Backstage locations as off-price sector takes off