Michaels (MIK) Prepares for Holiday Fest, Outlines Hiring Plan
Retailers rely on the common strategy of hiring seasonal staff ahead of the holiday season to deal with the festive period rush at stores. With the holiday season approaching, The Michaels Companies Inc. MIK was among the few retailers that came up early with the hiring plans this year. Other retailers, who usually undertake hiring strategy ahead of the holiday season, are Target Corporation TGT, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc. DKS and The Gap, Inc. GPS.
Michales expects to hire more than 16,000 associates for seasonal positions across the United States and Canada to prepare for the holiday season. The seasonal hiring event in the United States is likely to be held across its stores on Sep 12. Information for hiring in Canada will be available in local stores for candidates willing to apply.
The hiring will comprise of position for team members across the organization. Moreover, the company expects to strengthen its buy-online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) team to provide a safe and convenient shopping experience to customers during the holiday season.
The seasonal hires will not only receive an attractive pay but also gain other pre-requisites like up to 30% discount and flexible work hours. Additionally, Michaels converts more than 50% of these hires to in-store positions into regular roles, following the holidays.
The holiday season is a crucial time for retailers as it accounts for a sizeable chunk of yearly revenues and profits. Retailers try to attract customers with early-hour store openings, huge discounts and promotional strategies. However, uncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be a key factor during this year’s holiday bash. With stay-at-home trends still prevalent, retailers might be looking at the majority of sales this holiday season coming from online portals.
Consequently, most retailers have been focused on investing in web portals as well as fulfillment options to provide a smooth omni-channel experience to shoppers. Among the current shopping trends, curbside pickup and BOPIS are likely to gain prominence in this year’s holiday season as customers will continue to look for contactless shopping options.
Coming back to Michaels, the company registered e-commerce growth of more than 350% year over year in the fiscal second quarter on enhanced and expanded omni-channel capabilities. Its omni-channel efforts included new delivery options like curbside pick-up, same-day delivery, expanded shipment from store and BOPIS along with in-app purchases.
Management expects contactless in-store shopping facility along with the Michaels app to aid growth in the near term.
Price Performance
We note that shares of this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company have gained 71.4% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 9.8%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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