Merchandise Selection
Merchandise selection has become even more critical for department-store chains such as Nordstrom as the industry struggles with dwindling mall traffic and consumers’ defection to online shopping. The company, which has posted declining same-store sales in two of the past three quarters, has seen its shares fall 11 percent in the 12 months through yesterday. The stock was down 0.4 percent to $43.34 at 9:48 a.m. on Friday.
In November, the company posted a response on Twitter to a shopper’s open letter calling for Nordstrom to stop selling the Ivanka Trump brand.
“We hope that offering a vendor’s products isn’t misunderstood as us taking a political position; we’re not,” the company said at the time. “We recognize our customers can make choices about what they purchase based on personal views and we’ll continue to give them options.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.