Macy’s to launch flagship store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global

To that end, the company on Wednesday also said it agreed to sell property in Brooklyn to real-estate developer Tishman Speyer for $175 million. Under the joint venture, Macy’s plans to begin selling in China in late 2015 through an e-commerce presence on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s (BABA) Tmall Global.

Ken Murphy, vice president and portfolio manager at Standard Life Investments, which holds Macy’s shares, said the China entry is “definitely not a must have” for Macy’s as it looks for growth avenues but he thinks the virtual store model tested by the retailer has few risks.

Macy’s China Ltd will be led by Kent Anderson, president of the retailer’s online website, who will serve as managing director.

Dreary sales data from the government on department stores confirms awful second-quarter earnings from the major players in the sector. But in the past year or so, it has seen a slowdown.

The results missed Wall Street expectations.

Research firm Retail Metrics’ president, Ken Perkins, said the joint venture was a move in the right direction.

Retail earnings continue to roll in with Kohl’s (KSS), Nordstrom (JWN) and J.C. Penney (JCP) reporting later this week. Macy’s blamed it on the strong dollar and West Coast port strike, but one excuse is hard to believe and the other one doesn’t explain future sluggishness.

Thomson ReutersA woman shops for a present at the scarf section inside Macy’s Manhattan department store in New YorkThe days of full-priced department store merchandise might be over. And the money they are spending is going elsewhere.

“The overall growth in the economy is modest at best and we are seeing customers gravitating to restaurants, recreational services, health care and electronics, rather than to traditional general merchandise”, Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet told investors in a call Wednesday. Several analysts said Macy’s U.S. strategic initiatives are taking longer than expected to deliver and that pursuing several opportunities simultaneously is hurting the company’s ability to execute.

“Millions of Chinese tourists have come to know and love Macy’s when they travel to New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other American destinations”, Chairman and CEO of Macy’s, Inc. It expects to have e-commerce sales of $50 million by 2016.

Black Diamond Outdoor equipment and apparel business Black Diamond widened its net loss in the second quarter to US$5.4m from $4.4m a year earlier as a result of restructuring costs.

Net sales fell to $6.10 billion from $6.27 billion. As of August 1, the company still had $1.6 billion remaining under its share buyback program.

Macy’s forecast flat same-store sales for the year ending January 2016 and a fall of about 1 percent in total sales.

Earlier, Macy’s had envisioned total sales increase of 1% during the fiscal and comparable sales growth of approximately 2% on an owned plus licensed basis.