macy’s inc talked up the launch of a new marketplace as a way to further build out its merchandise assortment and ecommerce business but globaldata says a new marketplace could doom the departmentstore retailer’s traditional business macy’s m announced plans to launch a curated digital marketplace alongside thirdquarter profit that soared past expectations the marketplace which is expected to launch during the second half of next year will be created in collaboration with marketplace technology company mirakl macy’s chief executive jeff gennette says the company’s digital business is en route to 10 billion by 2023 expanding into new categories and brands is driving growth according to gennette toy sales have more than doubled versus 2019 since the toys ‘r’ us partnership launched in august for instance see target says measures to manage the supplychain bottleneck has pressured margins but analysts say it’s worth it macy’s has been under pressure from activist investors jana partners llc to separate its ecommerce business from the bricksandmortar business according to reporting by the wall street journal macy’s has conducted an analysis of the business as part of its turnaround strategy which is focused on serving customers across platforms but gennette says the company is taking another look “it is too early to tell what the results of this additional analysis will be but we plan to update everyone after the work is complete” he said on the call according to a factset transcript globaldata says the marketplace is the result of “misplaced thinking” “a possible danger of the marketplace is that it will decrease the overlap between stores and online which will in turn amplify the calls for macy’s to spin off ecommerce” wrote neil saunders managing director at globaldata in a note “at present this is a strategy management firmly resists – and is something we applaud them for – but we do not see the matter going away any time soon in our view tearing digital and store asunder would be a huge mistake and would over time be the deathknell for macy’s as a mainstream brand” also ‘fighting inflation is in our dna’ walmart says its pricing and inventory can deliver for the holidays moreover saunders highlights other problems that macy’s has including stores that are an “atrocious mess” and “mediocre” customer service credit suisse analysts maintained their underperform stock rating after the earnings announcement though they raised their price target to 32 from 19 “while we have concerns that longerterm incremental industry pressures will restart by late 2022 our raised target multiple reflects better nearterm execution by macy’s and potential for new value unlocks like a bigger marketplace model in 2022 and beyond” analysts wrote investors have been far more optimistic about the stock with shares jumping more than 52 over the last three months and soaring 203 for the year to date the benchmark sp 500 index spx has gained 256 for 2021 so far macy’s is cowen’s top holiday pick cowen analysts estimate that macy’s digital business could be worth 115 billion “the business is executing on its core turnaround strategy and taking share in a rapidly changing environment” analysts said “we nod to macy’s evolving strategy to engage with the crucial omnichannel customer particularly as demand and shopping habits modernize… while macy’s is emphasizing their efforts on store fleet rationalization the company is experimenting with off mall locations which we believe could be incremental to the success of the store channel and omnichannel customer” don’t miss this is how america’s booming demand for goods shattered the supply chain and in the nearterm empire financial research says the retailer is wellpositioned for the holidays despite global supply chain challenges “of course the supply chain problems will persist but the largest players with the deepest relationships in the shipping and freight community and the most leverage with key vendors and suppliers are at a distinct advantage – and macy’s is proof of that” said berna barshay an editor at empire financial gennette says the company began its efforts to minimize the impact of supply chain bottlenecks going back as far as the fourth quarter of 2020 “it is also important to remember that the figures from this quarter do not yet reflect the recent reopening of international travel and it will be very interesting to see how the return of tourism impacts macy’s in the fourth quarter”