Did Macy's Really Blame Poor Sales On Netflix And Lipstick?

Macy's, Inc M Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet on Tuesday blamed the company's weakness in the luxury retail market on Netflix Inc. NFLX and lipstick. Seriously? The executive's comments were made at an industry conference, and picked up by MarketWatch. "We did some consumer research, and the customers said, she likes going to the off-price retailers because she doesn't have to put lipstick on," Hoguet said. Macy's reported its fourth quarter results on February 24. Revenue rose to $9.36 billion from $9.20 billion in the same quarter a year ago but still fell short of the $9.40 billion analysts were expecting. During the post earnings conference call, the company's management team didn't blame its revenue miss on lipstick, rather the company did highlight "off-price" competition. So how does Netflix, Inc. NFLX contribute to hurting Macy's sales? According to Hoguet, the growing popularity of electronic devices that provide access to Netflix, among other services, are weighing on luxury brick-and-mortar sales. "I think part of that is the customers are buying other things, whether the electronics, cable services, Netflix, whatever," the executive said. Similarly, Macy's management team made no reference to Netflix or any streaming service to explain its weaker than expected sales during its fourth quarter conference call.