What’s Next for Texas-Based Neiman Marcus

In addition to losing top company officials, Neiman Marcus reported a loss for its last fiscal year and lower traffic in stores.

By Laura RiceNovember 15, 2016 11:53 am

Another top executive has left Neiman Marcus.

The Dallas-based luxury retailer announced this week it is parting ways with its chief financial officer – the same year it lost its vice president of store development and its chief marketing officer. Now, with losses mounting, there’s talk that one of the most iconic Texas names in luxury retail soon might be up for sale.

Korri Kezar, a retailing, restaurants and public companies reporter for the Dallas Business Journal, says it’s worrying for analysts to see the company lose so much of its leadership in just one year.

“Analysts don’t like to see a lot of C-suites turnover in any company, particularly one that’s looking at going public,” Kezar says.

The New York Post reported earlier this year that the company was looking for a buyer. However, one potential buyer in China passed the offer up.

“Neiman Marcus declined at the time to speculate on the possibility of a sale so we don’t have any new information, other than there were certainly rumors that the company was looking for a sale,” Kezar says.

In addition to losing top company officials, Neiman Marcus reported a loss for its last fiscal year and lower traffic in stores. Kezar says the company is now looking to pivot by downsizing overall staff and using technology to become more efficient. She also says the situation is not unique to just Neiman’s.

“A lot of luxury retailers right now are seeing some losses, are having a harder time as people are clamping down on their wallets a little bit more, unsure about the future,” Kezar says. “What they really need to do is just bring those customers in.”

The company might have made it more difficult to bring in those customers after an incident earlier this year. They got some bad press for one of their fantasy gifts – $66 collard greens, or $81 with shipping and handling. (Despite the Internet mockery, the product is sold out.)

“The collard greens really sparked people’s interest,” Kezar says. “I think you could go down and get collard greens at the grocery store for a fraction of the price. There ended up being backlash for it.”

Neiman Marcus has been providing Texans with luxury products for more than a century. The company was founded in 1907 to bring items commonly sold in New York to wealthy people in the Lone Star state.

“At that time, oil was becoming big, so it became a place where newly wealthy Texans flocked to find that iconic piece, or that piece that no one else had,” Kezar says. “It maintained that allure over its more than 100-year history.”

Post by Sunny Sone.