Macy’s has reinstated Peter Sachse as chief marketing officer to replace Anne MacDonald, who steps down this week after 16 months on the job.
Sachse returns to the top marketing post after 13 months as chairman of Macys.com. He was Macy’s first-ever chief marketing officer, taking the job in June 2003 when Macy’s first formed its corporate marketing division.
Now, he’ll oversee both corporate marketing and the online division. That lets the retailer “more effectively leverage the company’s fast-growing online presence as we continue to build Macy’s as a national brand through a broad range of marketing tools, including Internet advertising,” said Terry Lundgren, president and chief executive officer of parent Federated Department Stores, in a statement.
MacDonald came to Macy’s in February 2006 from Citibank, where she had been chief marketing officer for the Global Consumer Group. Before that, she had been vice president of brand management for Pizza Hut, and earlier held account management posts at ad agencies N.W. Ayer and Grey Advertising.
Macy’s hired MacDonald just as it prepared to take the retail brand national, converting 400 regional department stores to the Macy’s nameplate. Her mission was “to lead us outside of the traditional realm of retail store marketing and to establish Macy’s as a leading American consumer brand,” Lundgren said at the time.
MacDonald’s oversaw the ad and promotions blitz that Macy’s broke in September, touting the systemwide adoption of the Macy’s name in its first-ever national campaign (PROMO Xtra, Sept. 7, 2006). But the conversion of iconic regional brands, such as Marshall Field’s in Chicago, angered some shoppers, and Macy’s sales have stayed soft.
Sales in the converted stores were “disappointing” for the quarter ended May 5, Lundgren said. Total sales were $5.9 billion, down 0.2% from the same quarter last year, and below Macy’s projections of $6 to $6.1 billion. For fiscal 2006 ended Feb. 3, same-store sales were up 4.4%, contributing to total sales of $26.97 billion for the year.
At Macys.com, president Kent Anderson and, executive vice president for merchandising Helaine Suval will continue to report to Sachse.
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