Introduction

Nordstrom, Inc. is an American upscale fashion retailer, founded by John W. Nordstrom and
Carl F. Wallin and headquartered in Seattle. The company began as a shoe retailer and has
since expanded its inventory to include clothing, accessories, handbags, jewellery, cosmetics,
and fragrances. Select Nordstrom stores also have wedding and home furnishing departments.
There are 323 stores operating in 38 states and Canada, which includes 121 full-line stores
and 194 Nordstrom Racks, five Trunk Club clubhouses, two Jeffrey boutiques and one
clearance store. Nordstrom also serves customers through nordstrom.com and
nordstromrack.com, and its online private sale site, Haute Look. In addition, Nordstrom
operates one clearance store, along with two Jeffrey boutiques. Nordstrom, Inc.'s common
stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN. The company announced plans
to open six stores in Canada beginning in 2014,as well as its first namesake in New York City
in 2018.Nationally, Nordstrom competes with luxury retailers Bloomingdale's, Lord &
Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Of its retail competitors, Nordstrom has both
the largest number of store locations and the largest geographic footprint, and its stores
anchor many upscale malls throughout the United States.
Sales
Nordstrom traditionally holds only five designated sale event each year. Four of these are
Half-Yearly sales, which take place semi-annually and are split up by department. For women
and kids, the Half-Yearly sales take place in May and November. The Men's Half-Yearly
sales occur in mid-June and late December. Nordstroms largest sale event is the Nordstrom
Anniversary Sale, which is held each July. Limited amounts of merchandise set to be released
for the following fall is sent to Nordstrom stores early, where it is sold at a large discount. For
ten days prior to Anniversary Sale, Nordstrom rewards members are able to make
appointments with sales associates to shop the sale early through the store's Early Access
event. Shoppers also get double points on their Nordstrom card purchases throughout early
access and the first weekend of the Anniversary Sale.
Mission statement:

"At Nordstrom, we value the richness that diversity brings to our workforce - it makes our
Company better and the communities we serve stronger."
Slogan: Reinvent Yourself

Organisational Structure

Nordstrom inverts the Organizational Pyramid

Directly below customers is the floor sales staff because they are the ones
who deal with the companys most important people the customers every
minute of every day. As a result, Nordstrom management gives these
people authority to make customers happy with their shopping
experience. This includes their very famous return policy (which isnt, in
fact, an actual policy). New sales associates are told to follow one simple
rule: use your best judgment. (They are also told that one of the reasons
they were hired was that they met Nordstroms exacting demands in this
area.) This approach has clearly served the company extremely well from
a customer relations standpoint.
The organisation chart been inverted to more closely emulate the pattern
of McCallums trunk-and-roots structure. It also adopts the Nordstrom
paradigm, placing the importance of customers (and prospects) at the top
of the hierarchy. Recognizing where these people touch the front lines of
the companys organization could be important in hiring decisions. It will
also determine how the organization strives to empower them in the
proper handling of customer relationships. This thinking also gives the
organization chart a higher purpose. Rather than being just a visual
display of titles and a reporting hierarchy, the new org chart has a more
holistic, strategic approach. It forces the entire enterprise to focus on
providing the best possible customer experience, and aligns very nicely
with Lean principals.

OFFICIAL WEBSITES

Nordstrom is Top Performer in Social Media

Nordstrom is a top performer on social media, according to a new ranking
which explores how good US retailers are at engaging with shoppers in the
lead up to Black Friday.

The Engagement Labs study features insights from 19 October 2015 to 16

November 2015, measured using the companys eValue tool. It
records over 100,000 brands performances on social media, scoring them
between 0-100 based on engagement, impact and responsiveness
metrics.

Engagement is the level of interaction content receives on a specific social

network. Impact is the reach content receives on a specific social network,
and responsiveness measures how much, how fast and how well a brand
responds to actual conversations amongst its users.

According to Bryan Segal, CEO of Engagement Labs, its imperative for

retail brands to utilize social media to not only increase brand awareness
and but also keep their followers updated on Black Friday Sales.

Nordstrom, is a top performer on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook,

Nordstrom has the highest eValue average score on the list at 93.11. It
has enjoyed fan growth of 89,536 within the one-month tracking period
and attracted 380.57 likes per 1,000 fansthe highest on the entire list.

Facebook
Instagram
Company Perspective

In 1901, John W. Nordstrom used his stake from the Alaska gold rush to open a small shoe
store in Seattle, Washington. Over the years, the Nordstrom family of employees built a
thriving business on the principles of quality, value, selection and service.

Today, Nordstrom is one of the nation's leading fashion retailers, offering a wide variety of
fine quality apparel, shoes and accessories for men, women and children at stores across the
country. They remain committed to the simple idea our company was founded on, earning the
trust of our customers, one at a time.

History of Nordstrom Inc.

Nordstrom, Inc. was started in 1901 as a single shoe store in Seattle, Washington, that was
opened by two Swedish immigrants. From those origins, the family-run enterprise expanded
into a 180-outlet, 27-state chain, which tallied $6.49 billion in sales in 2003. In addition to
more than 90 flagship Nordstrom department stores, the company also operates about 50
Nordstrom Rack outlet stores in the United States and around 35 Faonnable boutiques, most
of which are located in Europe. Catalog and Internet sales are generated through the
Nordstrom Direct unit. Carefully supervised expansion, tight family management, wide
selection, and attentive customer service have long been the hallmarks of Seattle-based
Nordstrom, one of the largest independent fashion specialty retailers in the United States.
Members of the founding Nordstrom family continue to own about 20 percent of the
company's stock.

Opening of Small Shoe Store in 1901

John W. Nordstrom, a 16-year-old Swede in 1899, $13,000 richer, Nordstrom moved back to
Seattle, where he opened a shoe store with Carl Wallin, a shoemaker he had met in Alaska.
On its first day of business in 1901, Wallin & Nordstrom sold $12.50 in shoes.
Business quickly picked up. By 1905 annual sales increased to $80,000. The business
continued to grow, and in 1923 the partners opened a second store in Seattle. By 1928,
however, 57-year-old John Nordstrom had decided to retire from the shoe business, and
passed on his share to his sons Everett and Elmer

Expansion and Diversification in the 1950s and 1960s

In the postwar decades, the Nordstrom brothers built the company into the largest
independent shoe chain in the United States. In 1950 the Nordstroms opened two new shoe
stores: one in Portland, Oregon, and one in a Seattle suburb--the latter located at Northgate
Mall, the nation's first shopping mall. Nine years later, Nordstrom remodeled its Seattle
flagship store, and stocked it with 100,000 pairs of shoes--the biggest inventory in the
country. By 1961 Nordstrom operated eight shoe stores and 13 leased shoe departments in
Washington, Oregon, and California. That year, the firm grossed $12 million in sales and had
600 employees on its payroll.

With the addition of apparel outlets, the company expanded rapidly. In 1965 the Nordstroms
opened a new Best Apparel store adjacent to a Nordstrom shoe store in suburban Seattle. In
1966 the company acquired a Portland retail fashion outlet, Nicholas Ungar, and merged it
with the Nordstrom shoe store in Portland, which was renamed Nordstrom Best.

Third Generation Took Control in 1970

In 1968 Everett Nordstrom turned 65, and he and his two brothers decided to turn over the
reins of the company to the next generation of Nordstroms. Five men--Everett's son Bruce,
Elmer's sons James and John, Lloyd's son-in-law John A. McMillan, and family friend Robert
E. Bender--took control of the company.

In 1978 Nordstrom expanded into the southern California market, opening an outlet in
Orange County. That year, the firm reaped $13.5 million in earnings on nearly $300 million
in sales. Buoyed by the success, Nordstrom's executives charted an aggressive expansion
program, and began to open bigger stores in California. Their late 1970s confidence presaged
a decade of phenomenal, but controlled, growth.
Rapid Growth in Early 1980s Fuelled by Legendary Customer Service

By 1980 Nordstrom was the third largest specialty retailer in the country, ranking behind only
Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.

In the 1980s the firm's customer service became legendary, as tales of heroic efforts by
salespeople became legion: clerks were known to pay shoppers' parking tickets, rush
deliveries to offices, unquestioningly accept returns, lend cash to strapped customers, and to
send tailors to customers' homes. Salespeople received constant pep talks from management,
and motivational exercises were a routine part of life at Nordstrom. Nordstrom also created
an extremely customer-friendly environment. Many stores had free coat check service,
concierges, and piano players who serenaded shoppers.

As the economy boomed in the 1980s, Nordstrom's figures climbed apace. In 1985 sales first
topped $1 billion, as they jumped to $1.3 billion. In 1987 the firm reaped profits of $92.7
million on sales of $1.92 billion.

Began Eastward Expansion in the Mid-1980s

Nordstrom's growth in the latter half of the 1980s stemmed from a combination of expansion
into new territories and the creation of larger stores in existing Nordstrom territory. In 1986,
when the firm operated 53 stores in six western states, Nordstrom began to turn its sights to
the East. In March 1988, Nordstrom opened its first store on the East Coast, a 238,000-
square-foot facility in McLean, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. On its first day, the
store racked up more than $1 million in sales. Over the first year, the store brought in $100
million in sales.

The same year, Nordstrom expanded on the West Coast as well, opening its biggest store, a
350,000-square-foot facility in downtown San Francisco. The lavish San Francisco store
featured 103 different brands of champagne, 16 varieties of chilled vodka, and a health spa,
among other luxurious amenities.
By the end of 1988, Nordstrom had 21,000 employees toiling in its 58
stores. Together they persuaded customers to buy $2.3 billion worth of
goods in 1988, and earned profits of $123 million for the corporation.

PREVIOUS NORDSTROM LOGO USED TILL 1991

Slower Growth in the 1990s

Sales and earnings rebounded a fraction in 1990. Sales rose 8 percent to $2.89 billion, and
profits rose a minuscule 0.7 percent to $115.8 million. In 1990 women's apparel and
accessories accounted for 59 percent of Nordstrom's total sales; men's apparel accounted for
16 percent; and shoes--still a company mainstay--constituted 19 percent of all sales.

Meanwhile, with net earnings slipping somewhat (from 5.3 percent in 1988 to 3.91 percent in
1993), Nordstrom sought to cut costs, in particular its selling, general, and administrative
costs, which accounted for 26.4 percent of sales in 1992. This relatively high figure resulted
from Nordstrom's generous employee incentive program that fueled the company's reputation
for customer service. By 1995, however, these costs had actually increased to 27.2 percent of
sales, while net earnings improved only slightly to 4.01 percent.

Although considered innovative in many areas, Nordstrom had stayed away from large
investments in systems technology prior to the mid-1990s. In 1995 a new information system
was installed, along with a new system for personnel, payroll, and benefits processing. Most
importantly, Nordstrom's first inventory control system rolled out that same year in southern
California, with companywide rollout the following year. Although the status of an item
throughout all stores could be checked using the system, Nordstrom maintained its traditional
decentralized buying, bucking an industry trend toward centralization.

Unfortunately, Nordstrom's struggles continued during this period. Many customers began
viewing its merchandise as being too formal and neither keeping up with the latest lifestyle
changes nor offering pacesetting fashions. In addition the unwieldy six-person copresidency
inhibited rapid decision-making, and Nordstrom was well behind its competitors in making
full use of information technology systems. In February 2000 Whitacre dismantled the
copresidency, reassigning five of the Nordstrom cousins to line-management jobs. On the
merchandise front, the company introduced new high-margin, private-label fashion lines for
women, and centralized purchasing was instituted in order to provide a consistent chainwide
merchandise look and to increase leverage with vendors. Along the same lines, regionally
created advertising was replaced with the firm's first national television campaign to create a
consistent Nordstrom image. Finally, the company's outdated computer systems began to be
upgraded to more easily track merchandise and collect data on customer trends.

Return of Family Management, Early 2000s

The merchandising changes, however, quickly backfired. The overhaul, backed by an

advertising campaign with the tag line "Reinvent Yourself," emphasized more youthful
fashions that were appealing to 20-somethings but that alienated Nordstrom's core baby-
boomer shoppers. Sales remained lackluster and earnings were down, leading to Whitacre's
ouster in an August 2000 management shakeup. Bruce Nordstrom came out of retirement to
take over the chairman's position, while his son Blake assumed the day-to-day reins as
president. Blake Nordstrom, one of the former copresidents, had most recently been in charge
of Nordstrom Rack. These developments occurred during one of Nordstrom's least profitable
years in some time, as net income for fiscal 2000 totaled just $101.9 million on sales of $5.53
billion. Same-store sales increased just 0.3 percent over the previous year's sales. Also in
2000, Nordstrom acquired Faonnable S.A. for about $170 million, gaining full control of the
Faonnable brand and the 53 Faonnable boutiques located around the world, mainly in
Europe.

By 2003 Nordstrom appeared to have regained its lost luster through cost containment,
technology initiatives, and a refocusing on its niche: luxury goods at affordable prices. Some
analysts considered technology to be the key component, particularly a new state-of-the-art
merchandising system, which began to be rolled out in 2002. The system could track sales
minute by minute throughout its stores, enabling Nordstrom to reduce markdowns and better
target its offerings to customers. On the merchandise side, the retailer began introducing
edgier fashion offerings in a department called "via C," in an attempt to leverage its core
customer base, which was younger and had a wider age range than its main competitors,
Neiman-Marcus Co. and Saks Incorporated. Nordstrom enjoyed its most profitable year ever
in 2003: $242.8 million in net income on record revenues of $6.49 billion. Same-store sales
rose 4.3 percent, Nordstrom's best performance in ten years. Nordstrom hoped to maintain
this forward momentum by continuing to roll out its technology initiatives, keeping a tight
rein on expenses, and eschewing large investments in new real estate--only 11 new stores
were slated for opening from 2004 through 2008--in favor of sprucing up existing stores and
maximizing sales per square foot. The latter was already on the rise, increasing from $319 a
square foot in 2002 to $327 in 2003, but were a far cry from industry leader Neiman Marcus's
figure of $466 a square foot.

Chronology

Key Dates:

1901: John W. Nordstrom opens a shoe store in Seattle with Carl Wallin, called Wallin
& Nordstrom.

1923: Second store is opened in Seattle.

1928: Nordstrom retires and sells his share in the firm to his sons Everett and Elmer.

1929: Wallin retires and also sells his shares to the Nordstrom sons.
 1930: The shoe stores are renamed Nordstrom's.

1933: A third son, Lloyd, joins the firm.

1950: Two new shoe stores are opened, one in Portland, Oregon, and one in a Seattle
suburb.

1963: Best Apparel, a Seattle-based women's clothing store, is acquired.

1966: The Nordstrom's shoe store in Portland begins selling clothing as well, adopting
the name Nordstrom Best, which is soon the name of the company and all of its
outlets.

1968: Third generation of Nordstroms take over management command.

1971: Nordstrom Best goes public.

1973: Company changes its name to Nordstrom, Inc.; first Nordstrom Rack opens.

1978: Opening of a store in Orange County, California, marks the first move outside
the Northwest.

1985: Revenues surpass the $1 billion mark.

1988: First East Coast store opens in McLean, Virginia.

1991: First Midwest store opens in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois.

1995: The third-generation Nordstrom managers retire; non-family-member John

Whitacre becomes chairman, while six fourth-generation family members become
copresidents.

2000: Whitacre is ousted; Bruce Nordstrom is named chairman, Blake Nordstrom,

president; Nordstrom acquires Faonnable S.A.

STORE LOCATIONS IN USA AND CANADA:

Nordstrom, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is an leading American upscale fashion
specialty retailer. The company started as a shoe retailer in 1901 and has since expanded its
inventory to include clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, beauty products for men,
women and children. Select Nordstrom stores also have wedding and home furnishing
departments. Nordstrom operates 286 stores in 38 states, including 118 full-line stores in the
US and one in Canada, and 167 Nordstrom Rack with over 230 stores located throughout the
United States and in Canada. The company emphasizes building long-term relationships with
its employees, promoting from within, and rewarding outstanding work.

They are listed as one of the top 100 companies to work for by Fortune. Having added over
1000 full-time positions in the last year alone, it is clear that Nordstrom is continuing to grow
its business. Nordstrom employment information, including job openings and how to apply, is
available online.