Nordstrom Inc., further maneuvering to manage amid the coronavirus, has canceled more merchandise orders. "Similar to the April/May approach, the company has decided to suspend all full price orders for June/July," the company wrote in a letter to vendor partners. This concerns Nordstrom's department stores only, Rack off-price stores would be different merchandise orders.

In a similar move, the department store chain is moving its Anniversary sale from July to August. It's the company's biggest sale and volume event of the year. It is not a promotion or clearance as new fall merchandise is stocked just for the event, with buyers getting orders from vendors when department stores typically don't get them, and Nordstrom achieving a surge in volume in an otherwise soft sales period. It provides customers with the opportunity to buy new fall merchandise early at a discount for about two weeks. "We are reevaluating our needs for the event," Nordstrom wrote in the letter to vendors. "Only our absolutely best items at compelling prices will be part of the offer and a disproportionate amount of the funding will go to categories that have outperformed the average during COVID…home, cozy, beauty/self care, etc. This will certainly impact our original offer so we will discuss our proposed ideas on call."

Full WWD article: Nordstrom cancels more orders and delays Anniversary sale

More on Nordstrom:

• Nordstrom is sewing face masks for health care workers
• US department stores are furloughing staff