Will Macy's Restructuring Work?

So Macy’s has just introduced a detailed new plan that management hopes will “position the company for increased sales, profitability and cash flow,” reducing expenses by about $400 million a year.As part of the initiative, the department-store company will lay off about 7,000 positions across its operations, with the biggest cutbacks taking place in its central offices. It seems that a big part of the new strategy, called “My Macy’s” is to make shopping at locations across the country a more local experience. The stores will now be grouped into 69 geographic “districts” each representing about a dozen units, instead of the four regional divisions now in operation.The company started the My Macy’s pilot program last year that created 20 of these districts, and apparently, some of the chain’s highest sales were at stores within this framework.While all of this is localization is happening – and this is where we start to get a little confused – the company is streamlining its central operations. “Central buying, merchandise planning, stores senior management and marketing functions” will all be done out of New York City.So Macy’s is becoming less centralized and more centralized at the same time, right?But we guess the most important question is: Will more of a local focus on individual markets make a difference? Or will shoppers even notice…or care?