There's one big reason Macy's may not dump Ivanka Trump (M)
REUTERS/Mike Segar
Macy's is under intense pressure from customers and employees to cut ties with Ivanka Trump in the face of a growing boycott movement targeting companies that sell the first daughter's fashion line.
But the largest department store chain in the US hasn't said a word about whether it would follow the lead of its peers that have ditched the Trump brand.
The reason may not have much to do with politics. It turns out that Macy's online customers are still very interested in Ivanka Trump products, according to data from the analytics firm Jumpshot.
In December and January, traffic to Ivanka Trump brand pages on the Macy's website increased roughly 18%, the data show. Traffic to Ivanka Trump brand pages on Nordstrom's website, on the other hand, decreased 14% in the same period.
According to Randy Antin, Jumpshot's vice president of marketing, both Macy's and Nordstrom saw an uptick in traffic to Ivanka Trump brand pages leading up to the election, but that changed in November.
Jumpshot
Website traffic doesn't translate directly to sales, but it serves as a way to measure customer interest.
Macy's, which removed Donald Trump merchandise from its stores in 2015 after he referred to Mexican immigrants as "rapists," did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on its sales or plans for the Ivanka Trump brand.
An online movement to boycott retailers that do business with the Trump family began in October when Shannon Coulter started the #GrabYourWallet hashtag. Since the election, the boycott has only gained steam.
Nordstrom, which was a major target of the boycott, announced last week it was dropping Ivanka's fashion line, insisting that the decision was financial.
"Each year we cut about 10% [of brands carried] and refresh our assortment with about the same amount," a Nordstrom representative told Business Insider. "In this case, based on the brand's performance we've decided not to buy it for this season."
Several other retailers, including Neiman Marcus, have since stopped selling Ivanka's brand.
In a statement on Wednesday, after Donald accused Nordstrom of lodging a "direct attack" on his policies, Nordstrom reiterated that Ivanka's brand wasn't selling.
"Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn't make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now," Nordstrom said.
Jumpshot's data backs up Nordstrom's point — in December and January, Macy's had 60% more traffic to Ivanka Trump products than Nordstrom did.
That's a stark change compared with traffic before the election. From April to September, traffic to Ivanka Trump products on Nordstrom's website was significantly higher than traffic to the products on Macy's website, according to Jumpshot's data.