Amazon sent in the drones and online sales trumped brick-and-mortar this Black Friday. On the flip side, shopping malls continue to slim down and in-house retailers keep struggling. Here are three retailers that tanked in 2015.
1. Macy's
Despite its successful Thanksgiving parade, the retail giant has had a brutal 2015, forcing store closings while relying heavily on its real estate to turn things around. In Q3 alone, profits dropped nearly 50%, wiping out over $9.2B in market value in the process.
Nice weather into the fall—along with lower tourist spending—left Macy's winter collections sitting idle on the shelf, racking up inventory costs and red figures on the balance sheet.
The retailer hopes heavy discounting will bring shoppers back, though slimming margins could put further dents into Q4 profits.
2. American Apparel
After bleeding $340M over the past five years—including $45M this year alone—American Apparel filed for bankruptcy in the fall, citing declining sales, stiff competition and a series of...well, unfortunate workplace incidents.
Additionally, a shift in marketing strategy turned away its core fan base, all events counting against the American original. However, there are rumblings that ousted CEO Dov Charney is making a play to regain control of the retailer.
3. Sears
Sears has been bleeding dry, losing over $6B since 2012. Yet Sears insists on clinging to its barely floating apparel sector. After a long stretch of rumors of a REIT spinoff, the retailer managed to raise a much-needed $1.6B in July when it spun off its holdings into a REIT.
Despite the REIT-related cash infusion, the stock has dropped dramatically, with the company's market cap at about $2.1B after peaking mid-year at nearly $5B. (Check out a full list of struggling retailers here.) [BI]
