Bloomingdale's CEO Announces Retirement, Appoints New CEO
By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA
Omni-channel retailing largest priority on new CEO’s agenda
Bloomingdale’s CEO, Michael Gould, has announced his intentions to step down from the post, passing the position to the current Bloomingdale’s president, Tony Spring. Gould, who has been CEO of Bloomingdale’s for 22 years, served one of the longest terms as CEO in retail history.
During his stint as CEO, Gould grew the company from a 15-store retailer to a 50-unit retailer with 37 full line stores and 13 outlets. He was also establishing the company’s online business. Under his direction, Bloomingdale’s expanded nationwide and will be opening stores in Hawaii starting 2015. It even traveled overseas to Dubai through a licensing agreement. Sister chain to Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s contributes 10 percent to Macy’s $28 billion total sales.
In addition to expanding the company’s presence throughout the nation, Gould’s leadership style, described by Forbes columnist Barbara Thau as a “paternal-and-compassionate-yet-no-nonsense style”, resulted in very low turnover rate in Bloomingdale’s management team. Gould is a firm believer that “everyone has greatness in him,” and that an effective leader must foster an environment where employees “feel as though they’ve been given an opportunity to be more than they thought they could be.” Judging from the success Bloomingdale’s has seen over the years, Gould’s philosophies were beneficial for the company and its employees in the long run.
However, while Gould’s departure is a large change for the company, Gould has great confidence in Tony Spring’s abilities to lead. Upon official appointment, Spring claims that the most important and challenging opportunity he plans to pursue is omni-channel retailing. He says “the way in which people shop today is changing moment to moment” and “allocating resources” to meet consumers demand through brick-and-mortar, mobile, and online channels will be absolutely essential for the company to continue growing. While expansion overseas is important to Spring long-term, he plans to focus particularly on omni-channel retailing because “growth isn’t a strategy, it’s a result.”
In keeping with the company’s slogan, “like no other store in the world,” Spring plans to continue promoting merchandising programs that are unique or special, including the retailer’s “only at Bloomingdale’s” exclusive merchandise. Over the past few years, the company has explored and implements various strategies to ensure that the company remains unique from all other competition. For example, the retailer recently held an exclusive launch of the first fragrance from designer, Tory Burch. Similarly, Bloomingdales became the only department store to house Magnolia Bakery. The company also launched a series of in-store videos featuring 20 different designers discussing why they were passionate about Bloomingdale’s.
Considering Spring’s 26 year history with the brand, the company is well-poised to meet the needs of a changing market and to live up to its slogan. As Spring says, “This is a brand that has incredible potential. This is still a brand about experience, and the omni-channel landscape is disruptive and exciting as heck.”