Macy’s same-store sales down 0.7 percent in November

Macy’s has reported that its total sales of 2.450 billion

dollars for the four weeks ended November 24, 2012, a decrease of 0.6 percent compared with total sales of 2.464 billion dollars in the four weeks ended November 26, 2011. On a same-store basis, Macy’s sales were down 0.7 percent in November as compared to November 2011.

“Despite the largest-volume Thanksgiving weekend in our company’s history, we were not able to overcome the weak start to the month, which included the disruption of Hurricane Sandy. Yet we remain on track to deliver a very strong sales performance in the fourth quarter, consistent with our guidance,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s.

“Going forward into the heart of the holiday season, we continue to be very enthusiastic about how our Omni channel strategy is playing out, as was clearly evident during Thanksgiving week, into Black Friday weekend and through Cyber Monday. Our stores team has done an outstanding job preparing for the holidays and recovering the sales floors after periods of heavy customer traffic. Every aspect of our company has come together to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience whether they are shopping our stores, online, mobile or a combination of all three. Through store fulfilment, we now are using all of our inventory, no matter where it may be located in our system, to meet customer demand,” Lundgren said.

For the year to date, Macy’s sales totaled 20.786 billion dollars, up 3.2 percent from total sales of 20.145 billion dollars in the first 43 weeks of 2011. On a same-store basis, Company’s year-to-date sales were up 3.1 percent. Online sales were up 39.2 percent in November and 37.1 percent in 2012 year-to-date.

Macy’s reiterated its guidance (provided on November 7) for fourth quarter sales and earnings. The company expects same-store sales in the fourth quarter to be up by approximately 4.2 percent. Fourth quarter earnings per diluted share are expected in the range of 1.94 dollars to 1.99 dollars, excluding costs associated with the previously announced debt tender offer.