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Comparison of Two Retail Giants

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Submitted By artimis1990
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Comparison of Two Retail Giants In the fiercely competitive retail industry, Macy’s and Dillard’s hold rank among the largest fashion apparel and home décor retailers. While both compete for the same target market, an examination of each companies’ annual report reveals important differences in their strategies, which inherently differentiates the report presentation, accounting policies, and financial condition of the two corporations.
Brief Overview Macy’s, Inc. was founded in 1858 by a Quaker businessperson named Rowland Hussey. The company has since expanded to operate 40 Bloomingdale’s locations and over 810 Macy’s stores, spanning across forty-five states. Seventy years later, William Dillard founded Dillard’s. The company presently has 326 locations in twenty-nine states. Both retailers offer consumers trendy merchandise ranging from fashion apparel for men, women, and children, to accessories cosmetics, home furnishings, and other goods.
Annual Report Presentation The beginning of each financial report offers a brief overview of the company, from it’s founding to current economic conditions that are affecting the company. The biggest differences in the initial paragraphs are that Dillard’s jumps right into admitting the competitive nature of their industry and proceed to describe the characteristics of their competition. In comparison, Macy’s reveals information about its subsidiaries and the support functions provided to its retail operating divisions. While it is important to recognize competitive conditions, investors could interpret reiterating the risks of the industry more than necessary as a warning of digression in the financial position of the company. Both companies summarize the percentage of sales by product line. Female apparel and accessories constitute the largest percentage of sales for the two

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