Macy's Story goes outside with Dick's Sporting Goods

Dive Brief:

Macy's announced Tuesday its new in-store concept for Story, dubbed Outdoor Story, according to a company press release. The effort is in partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods and Miracle-Gro and will run through September.
Outdoor Story will feature more than 70 different brands and events at each location such as gardening workshops and kayaking on the Hudson River. Shoppers will be able to purchase "furniture that grows," Miracle-Gro's "Twelve Indoor Growing System" and a range of plants and planters, among other items.
Outdoor Story marks the first partnership for Macy's and Dick's, as well as the first partnership Dick's has had with another major retailer. Outdoor STORY will feature Dick's private brands, Alpine Design and Field & Stream, per the release.

Dive Insight:

Macy's has discovered the great outdoors.

The retailer's latest concept launched at all 36 Story locations nationwide and will feature more than 250 events that spotlight experts local to the different stores.

While Story is a retail concept that is intended to change every few months, highlighting home goods and partnering with nationally recognized brands may be seen as a strategic move on the retailer's part. Between 2013 and 2018 the home goods market in brick-and-mortar stores grew 20.9% while e-commerce noted 88.7% growth, according to data provided to Retail Dive by Euromonitor.

Other retailers have also seen success with event programming. For example, REI offers classes, tours and trips abroad, while beauty retailer Sephora operates Studio locations which offer beauty classes and concierge services for customers.

Such event-based programming can build emotional loyalty, which may be the most long-lasting type, according to a recent study by Gartner. "Brands tap into emotional loyalty ... by delivering more than just transactional value via tactics like experience," Gartner noted in its third annual L2 Intelligence Report.

Of the partnerships with Dick's and Miracle-Gro, Rachel Shechtman, Macy's brand experience officer and founder of Story said in a statement, "The timing felt right to lean on each brand's respective strengths to empower new modes of collaboration and learning."