Department Stores Move Upmarket as Luxury Struggles

The upmarket push is showing up at department stores, where the objective is to get customers to spend more without making the jump into luxury. Macy’s CEO Tony Spring described that effort during the retailer’s second-quarter conference call last week after an analyst asked about the runway for “premiumizing” its brand mix. “I think we have opportunity to continue to increase our AUR,” Spring said, referring to average unit retail.