Michaels is opening a second concept store in Texas in September which will include dedicated “trend hubs” and a maker space.
Photo courtesy of Michaels.
The first quarter of the year was tough for Michaels Stores Inc., as many of its stores were temporarily closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But all 1,270 Michaels stores are now back open, and the company’s flexible delivery offerings drove e-commerce to grow 353% in the second quarter. Sales were also up overall in the second quarter, but Michaels isn’t out of the woods just yet.
Full speed ahead
CEO Ashley Buchanan noted that Covid-19 is providing some tailwinds for Michaels as consumers are spending more time at home and are embracing creative outlets.
“Our customers spent increased amounts of time at home and look to Michaels for positive and inspiring outlets for self-expression or simply just to fill up the day,” he said on the earnings call. The company’s Camp Creativity kids’ classes drew 200,000 signups over four months.
Michaels engaged creative agency R/GA for its new ad campaign “Made By You,” which has a very Etsy feel to it. “We were less promotional during the quarter by design,” Buchanan said.
“We wanted to go from a branding perspective to provide more inspiration, more creativity with discounts, versus just a discounting brand.”
A new Michaels ad features real makers talking about their time at home, creating, during the pandemic.
In-person shopping restrictions sped up customer adoption of ship-from-store, Buy Online Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup options. Michaels retail stores are now essentially also functioning as distribution centers.
The revamped rewards program Michaels had been testing in select markets was rolled out to all customers in August, with personalized emails now at 70%, compared to 20% at the end of last year.
Michaels briefly had a chat room on its homepage to connect shoppers with other shoppers in August, and it quickly turned into a party that got out of hand. There’s still a chat box on the homepage, but it seems to be more moderated.
Grace Dobush
contributor
Grace Dobush is a Berlin-based freelance journalist and the author of the Crafty Superstar business guides. Grace has written about business and creative entrepreneurship for publications including Fortune, Wired, Quartz, Handelsblatt and The Washington Post.
It would be nice to stop seeing these “makers” selling out the craft communities by jumping on board with every corporate a$$hole that wants to throw money at them. Nobody wants a company like Michaels in the craft world.
I hope the entire chain goes under. I’m sick to death of corporations. We don’t need them.
Anyone shopping at Michaels is part of the problem. P.S. To all you Etsy people you do know Michaels and Etsy are in cahoots with one another. I find this interesting since Michaels just gutted a major national chain providing actual wholesale prices to small businesses schools non profits etc.