Macy’s rebrands by launching the ‘Own Your Style’ platform
March 15th, Macy’s launched a new platform with “Own Your Style” as a key step in the company’s Polaris strategy.
The “Own Your Style” platform is powered by a digital-driven omnichannel experience that places the customer at the center of communication. The platform is focused on celebrating individuality and how customers feel when they own their style while working to inspire them with the latest products and trends.
“Style is unique to the individual. We will help our customers express their personal style through personalized data-driven recommendations and expert advice that will differentiate us in a cluttered marketplace.”
— Rich Lennox, chief brand officer of Macy’s.
Today, let’s look at what Macy’s is aiming for with this “revolution”.
Playful Digital Experience
The new platform that brings “thematic” and “scenic” to the consumer is allowed Macy’s to revolutionize the customer shopping experience. Macy’s has updated its new version to focus on theme and style.
In the apparel category, the recommended new trend is “Do Prep Your Way”. The trend features a collection of items related to “Letterman embroidery”, “cardigans”, and “all the nostalgic pieces of the game day”.
New trends and styles were introduced not only for apparel but also for beauty and furniture products. The trend of the beauty collection is “The No-makeup makeup look” which covers 358 products that are all related to creating a natural and fresh look.
The new trend collections and style guides make the digital experience more enjoyable for consumers, allowing them to shop with a different search phrase than ever before. Furthermore, Macy’s drives personalized data-driven experiences that come to life in the customer journey through personalized recommendations and in-person expert advice.
UX & UI
The new platform places the customer at the core of communication and elevates the shopping experience by optimizing the UX and UI. Besides the original categorization, the new platform updated the modern search bar that adds multi-dimensional search. Consumers can explore different themes through featured shops.
For example, the featured shop of “Dress Destination” recommends three categories of “Florals”, “neutrals” and “vibrant shade” so that consumers can easily find products that suit them and what they want.
In addition, the new platform has been added aesthetic value, it is more like a fashion magazine. Each category section includes style-inspired and visual product displays, with product photos arranged in a grid of varying sizes to showcase the products in a new and engaging layout.
For example, in the furniture section, the “Hello There, Sunshine” style is echoed by a crisp yellow and lemon pattern. Also, the new platform also targets cross-selling, with multiple grids arranged to showcase a variety of categories in the style such as greenery, kettles, toasters, and more. These are efforts by Macy’s to enhance the user experience to promote consumption and enhance consumer loyalty.
Brand values
Today’s consumer buying behavior is not only driven by the product value, but also by brand values and concepts such as “sustainability,” “female,” “diversity,” etc. And Macy’s recognizes this with a new platform concept that refreshes the brand value. The new platform celebrates individuality, self-expression and encourages consumers to own their own style. Diverse aesthetics and an inclusive culture are infused into Macy’s brand values, revitalizing the century-old Macy’s.
Future?
There is no denying that this new platform is an opportunity for Macy’s but with it comes great challenges. For the new platform, which is driven by personalized style and trends, accurately capturing style and trends in each update is undoubtedly the biggest challenge. At the same time, the brand’s ability to remain agile and cautious is one of the key drivers to keep the new platform sustained.
So, we’ll see what happens!
