Macy's woos Millennials with ramped up wedding business
Macy's wants more shoppers to say "I do" to its wedding business.
The department store chain is stepping up its nuptials game in the hopes of winning a bigger slice of the $60 billion U.S. wedding pie. Among other moves: Macy's is adding higher-end bridal jewelry to its assortment and training its army of personal shoppers to advise anxious couples. While Macy's has long served people who are getting hitched, its offerings have traditionally revolved around gift registries. "We have an opportunity to service the couple throughout the entire wedding journey, not just at the point of registry," Shawn Outler, the Macy's senior vice president overseeing the wedding strategy. The effort is aimed squarely at millennials, many of whom are now in their late 20s, currently the typical U.S. age for marriage. "This is one part of the couple's life you can't mess up on," Outler says. "We want this to lead to first anniversary shopping, the first baby, the first home. We want these customers for life." Macy's started that "I Do" test at 55 stores and is rolling it out to 150 of its 750 stores this year.
