Nordstrom Plans To Hire 13,650 Staff For Holiday Season Rush

Holiday season and retail are synonymous, and with the festive season approaching, the sector is back in spotlight. Just like every year, retailers are busy with preparations to make the most of this solid selling period. In keeping with this trend, Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) will hire nearly 13,650 workers to handle the rush, higher than the previous year’s hiring of approximately 11,400 seasonal employees.

Notably, Nordstrom’s seasonal employees will cater to customers across all its stores including the Rack stores along with its distribution and fulfillment centers. Further, some of the employees will look after its online operations, Hautelook and Trunk Club customers.

Incidentally, roughly 8,200 seasonal employees will be recruited for 122 Nordstrom stores across the United States and Canada, and 3,200 for 1127 Nordstrom Rack stores. Additionally, the company plans to hire about 2,200 workers for its stores and e-commerce operations at its fulfillment and distribution centers across various states.

These seasonal roles will include both part-time and full-time positions, with the opportunity for some workers to become regular employees. This fashion specialty retailer believes that the improved staffing will help it to better serve customers during the busiest time of the year.

Notably, during the holiday season retailers stay on their toes, flooding the market with offers and promotions. They sweep buyers off their feet with early-hour store openings, huge discounts, promotional strategies, and free shipping on online purchases. Since the season accounts for a sizeable chunk of yearly revenues and profits, retailers grab every opportunity to drive footfall.

Apart from Nordstrom, other retail bellwethers like Macy’s Inc. (NYSE:M) , Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) and The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) , among others have adopted the same strategy to tap maximum holiday sales.

Stocks Performance

In the past one month, the company’s shares have declined 12.4%, wider than the industry’s fall of 5.1%. The recent decline in share price was primarily due to Nordstrom family’s plans to take the company private are on hold for the time being. The Nordstrom family, which has been exploring options to fund the privatization for a while now, informed the “Special Committee” that it has deferred the search process for the rest of the year.

While the Nordstrom family alias the Group notified that it plans to resume exploration initiatives after the holiday season. However, it remains to be seen if any deal can actually surface amid the tough retail landscape. Though the possibility of finding a lender may depend on Nordstrom’s performance in this crucial selling season, some reports suggest that it depends on the overall holiday season scenario.

Nordstrom currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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