Talented Blonde CEO Kristin Bentz Says Macy's Doesn't Need More Stores

Speaking to Benzinga, Talented Blonde CEO Kristin Bentz said that Macy's, Inc. M was the first company to create infrastructure for omnichannel retailing.

The omnichannel approach has shown, however, that “you don’t need more retail stores,” according to Bentz.

Using Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS as an example, Bentz noted that in Kors recent quarterly earnings report, the company found that consumers “ended up using the [company’s] website way more than anticipated, so it ate into their free-standing retail stores.”

“You just need to have a few flagships and a great online presence” along with an omnichannel so items can be retuned to brick-and-mortar stores, according to Bentz.

What Kors did not anticipate was the amount of goods that would be ordered online and then later returned to a retail store. Bentz added, “if it’s happening to Michael Kors just imagine what’s happening to everyone else.”

With Michael Kors and Coach Inc COH handbags available at Macy’s retail stores, Bentz said that if customer’s “aren’t buying [handbags] from Macy’s and if they’re not buying [handbags] from Kors or Coach, you’re going to have a problem. I think they’re going to have a really rough time making a compelling argument to shop in the store."

Bentz said she gets numerous emails each day from Macy’s about promotions, “So I know that [items] are on sale every day, I don’t have to buy anything,” and with the addition of in-store coupons, “you train the consumer to only shop at one sale, so that’s going to eat into your margin.”

Further complicating the picture for Macy’s was its recent acquisition of Bluemercury, a makeup company with both free standing stores and an online presence. Bentz was uncertain that the acquisition made sense as retail needs foot traffic and separate stores may confuse consumers.

Kevin and Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report.