- Robyn Turk
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Fashion companies continue to invest in strategies that promote
inclusion. Macy’s is the latest such company, as the American
retailer, which operates Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, has
announced a new approach intended to ensure that it reflects the
diversity of the communities it serves.
The company has outlined a 5-point plan to reach its inclusivity goals.
As the first of its five points, Macy’s has updated its Customer
Bill of Rights and expanded colleague training to ensure the company
remains welcoming, accepting and respectful to all customers. All
Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s locations will have a copy of the new
Customer Bill of Rights by the start of the 2019 holiday season.
Secondly, Macy’s has established inclusive marketing practices as a
means to reflect and reach the full spectrum of its consumer-base
through imagery and messaging. Under its new practices, Macy’s
requires 50 percent representation of gender or gender identity,
ethnicity, age, size and differently abled subjects in its
advertisements by next year.
The third point in Macy’s plan is the implementation of inclusive
workplace training for leadership. The company aims to achieve more
ethnic diversity and senior director levels and above by 2025, with a
goal of 30 percent.
Macy’s will drive growth of underrepresented suppliers, with a goal
to achieve a diverse supplier spend of at least 5 percent by 2021.
With this goal, the company hopes to contribute to the growth of the
number of diverse suppliers in the retail industry.
And lastly, Macy’s plan includes expanding economic development
partnerships. It will look to build meaningful relationships with
community partners with similar values of driving economic growth
while reinforcing social good. In 2019, the company will launch
economic development partnerships in at least five cities through its
business accelerators, which include The Workshop at Macy’s, The
Market at Macy’s and Story.
“We are proud of the work we’ve done over the last 10 years to
become a more inclusive organization,” said Shawn Outler, Macy’s chief
diversity officer, in a statement. “Today’s announcement marks the
next step on our journey as we continue to challenge ourselves to do
more.The strategy and goals we’ve set put us on a clear path to
becoming best-in-class, and we hope to be the beacon of change that
motivates other retailers and companies outside of our industry to do
the same.”
