Inventory Turnover › By Retailer › Macy's
Macy's Inventory Turnover: Department Store Case Study
Macy's, Inc. (M), which runs 432 Macy's stores, 61 Bloomingdale's and 172 Bluemercury locations, turned its inventory 3.0x in fiscal 2025 (52 weeks ended January 31, 2026), about 120 days on hand. The ratio has eased every year from 3.5x in fiscal 2022 as sales shrank and inventory stayed near $4.4B. All figures are from the company's 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR.
Quick answer: Macy's fiscal 2025 and 2024 10-K inventory turnover ratio
Fiscal 2025 (10-K)
3.0x for the 52 weeks ended January 31, 2026. $13,497M cost of sales over $4,440M average inventory ($4,468M opening, $4,412M closing). About 120 days on hand.
Fiscal 2024 (10-K)
3.1x for the 52 weeks ended February 1, 2025. $13,740M cost of sales over $4,414.5M average inventory. About 117 days on hand.
Turnover = cost of sales / average inventory (mean of opening and closing balance-sheet merchandise inventory). Macy's cost of sales excludes store occupancy. Figures from Macy's, Inc. 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR (CIK 0000794367), verified 10 November 2026.
Fiscal 2022 - fiscal 2025 turnover history
| Fiscal Year | Cost of Sales | Inv (start) | Inv (end) | Turnover | Days on Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 (ended Jan 28, 2023) | $15,347M | $4,383M | $4,267M | 3.5x | 103 |
| 2023 (ended Feb 3, 2024) | $14,224M | $4,267M | $4,361M | 3.3x | 111 |
| 2024 (ended Feb 1, 2025) | $13,740M | $4,361M | $4,468M | 3.1x | 117 |
| 2025 (ended Jan 31, 2026) | $13,497M | $4,468M | $4,412M | 3.0x | 120 |
Inventory (start) equals the prior year's inventory (end). Macy's names each fiscal year after the calendar year in which most of it falls. Fiscal 2023 was a 53-week year. Inventory is valued on the LIFO cost method from fiscal 2024 and on the LIFO retail inventory method before that; Macy's says the change had an immaterial effect.
3.5x · The best year in the window. Cost of sales was at its highest and year-end inventory came in 3% lower than it started.
3.3x · Cost of sales fell 7% even with a 53rd week, while inventory edged up 2%. Turnover slipped to 3.3x.
3.1x · Cost of sales fell another 3% and inventory rose another 2%. The first year valued on the LIFO cost method.
3.0x · Net sales fell 2.4%, mainly from stores closed at the end of 2024. Inventory came down 1%, not enough to stop turnover easing to 3.0x.
A shrinking business with a flat inventory line
Macy's turnover has fallen four years running: 3.5x, 3.3x, 3.1x, 3.0x. The cause is plain in the table. Cost of sales fell from $15.3B to $13.5B over those years, but year-end inventory never left the $4.3B to $4.5B range. When the numerator shrinks and the denominator does not, the ratio drifts down and days on hand climb, here from 103 to 120.
Part of the shrinkage is chosen. Macy's Bold New Chapter strategy closes unproductive Macy's stores to focus investment on the rest, and the 10-K ties fiscal 2025's 2.4% fall in net sales mainly to stores closed at the end of fiscal 2024, which had contributed about $700M of annual sales. Store count went from 680 to 665 during the year, and impairment charges relate to about 150 locations planned for closure.
Closing stores should eventually release inventory too, since each closed location's stock no longer needs replenishing. So far the balance has barely moved: down 1% in fiscal 2025 after two years of small increases. The test of the strategy for inventory is whether the balance starts falling as fast as the sales the closed stores used to carry.
What sets Macy's turnover
1. A broad department-store assortment
A Macy's store carries apparel, beauty, home, accessories and more, with full size and colour ranges across many brands. Breadth is the point of a department store, and it holds more inventory per dollar of sales than a narrow or off-price format. The 10-K names elevating and modernising the merchandise assortment as part of the Macy's nameplate plan.
2. Closures ahead of inventory
Sales from a closed store stop on the day it shuts; the inventory that supported them can take longer to clear or redeploy. In a period of planned closures, about 150 locations in this case, turnover can fall before it improves.
3. Three formats in one balance
The inventory line combines 432 Macy's stores with 61 Bloomingdale's and 172 Bluemercury locations, which the 10-K describes as differentiated growth platforms the company is investing in. The group ratio blends a full-line department store, a luxury department store and a small-format beauty chain, each with its own stock profile, plus a digital business that made up 35% of net sales in fiscal 2025.
4. Cost of sales without occupancy
Macy's cost of sales covers merchandise, inbound freight, shipping and handling and certain depreciation, not store occupancy. TJX, Ross and Gap put occupancy in the numerator, which lifts their ratios. On a like-for-like basis the gap between Macy's and those chains is a little smaller than the headline figures suggest, but still large.
Where 3.0x sits among retailers
Latest 10-K inventory turnover, times per year
Each figure is cost of sales over average inventory from the company's latest 10-K. Every retailer here has its own case study; the full ranked list is on the inventory turnover by retailer page.
Macy's sits at the slow end of the apparel-led retailers we track, level with Lululemon (3.1x) and below Gap (4.3x). The off-price chains that buy many of the same brands turn about twice as fast: TJX 6.1x and Ross 6.5x. That gap is the clearest picture in retail of what off-price buying does to inventory productivity.
Macy's earned a 38.0% gross margin in fiscal 2025 ($8,267M), so each turn of inventory still earns a healthy margin. The question for a department store is whether that margin, multiplied by a 3x turn, covers the cost of carrying 120 days of stock. Run the numbers with the GMROI calculator, and see the apparel turnover benchmarks for the sector range.
Frequently asked questions
What is Macy's inventory turnover ratio?
Macy's, Inc. turned its inventory 3.0x in fiscal 2025, the 52 weeks ended January 31, 2026. That is $13,497M of cost of sales divided by $4,440M average merchandise inventory (the mean of the $4,468M opening and $4,412M closing balances) from its 10-K. It works out to about 120 days of inventory on hand.
Why has Macy's inventory turnover been falling?
Because cost of sales has fallen every year while inventory has not. Cost of sales went from $15,347M in fiscal 2022 to $13,497M in fiscal 2025, down 12%, while year-end inventory stayed between $4.3B and $4.5B. Some of the sales decline is deliberate: under its Bold New Chapter strategy Macy's is closing unproductive stores, and its 10-K says stores closed at the end of fiscal 2024 had contributed about $700M of annual net sales. Inventory has to come down in step with those closures for turnover to recover.
How is Macy's inventory turnover calculated from the 10-K?
Divide cost of sales by average inventory, the mean of the opening and closing merchandise-inventory balances on the balance sheet. Macy's cost of sales covers the cost of merchandise including inbound freight, shipping and handling and certain depreciation; it does not include store occupancy. For fiscal 2025: $13,497M / (($4,468M + $4,412M) / 2) = 3.0x.
Did Macy's change how it values inventory?
Yes. From February 4, 2024 (the start of fiscal 2024) Macy's values merchandise inventories using the LIFO cost method, replacing the LIFO retail inventory method it used before. The 10-K says earlier periods were not restated because its systems did not capture the historical data needed, and that the change had an immaterial effect at the switch date. Turnover for fiscal 2023 and earlier is therefore on the older basis, but the difference is small.