Golden Week
at Macy’s.

The opportunity

A new occasion for a familiar retailer.

How could Macy’s turn a cultural moment into a distinctive spring gifting experience? Our team proposed a Golden Week retail concept combining Japanese-inspired gifting, curated merchandise, and coordinated online and in-store experiences.

The NRF Foundation University Challenge submission connected a consumer strategy with a product assortment, activation calendar, financial plan, and measurement framework.

The consumer perspective

Start with the people behind the purchase.

The presentation explored existing Macy’s shoppers, Gen Z and millennial audiences, Japanese communities, and visitors. Consumer personas helped translate research on gifting, cultural relevance, personalization, and experiences into concrete shopping journeys.

These personas were planning tools, not participants in a primary research study. The supporting market statistics are cited in the original deck; they are not campaign results.

The merchandise strategy

Build a gift story across categories.

The proposed 10-SKU assortment spanned beauty, apparel, accessories, home, and toys. Concepts included skincare gift sets, silk scarves, bamboo bedding and family pajamas, personalized wallets, and character-inspired toys.

The team connected products to different gifting motivations, then outlined retail prices, costs, target quantities, and margins. The assortment was a proposal; brand collaborations and products were not confirmed commercial partnerships.

The retail experience

One idea, across the customer journey.

• Before the event: social content, influencer concepts, digital gift reveals, and campaign storytelling to build awareness.
• In-store: themed zones, personalization, and an experience calendar connecting beauty, home, apparel, and children’s gifting.
• Online and in-app: a proposed Golden Week mode with store navigation, wishlists tied to availability, bundle suggestions, pickup, and delivery.
• After purchase: loyalty incentives, follow-up recommendations, and repeat-purchase offers.

The proposed pilot

Turn the concept into a measurable test.

The proposal outlined a five-flagship-store pilot plus digital, a 10-SKU assortment, and a $1.2 million estimated budget. Its measurement plan covered year-over-year sales, retention, repeat purchase, digital engagement, and sustainable-product performance.

All figures above describe the proposed pilot. Sales growth, basket lift, revenue, and return projections in the original deck are targets or assumptions, not achieved outcomes. The deck includes differing revenue and breakeven figures; those would need reconciliation before an investment decision.

The takeaway

Where creativity becomes a business plan.

This project shows how I connect consumer understanding with merchandise, pricing, customer experience, and financial thinking. The next step would be to validate demand, reconcile the financial assumptions, confirm partners and feasibility, and test the concept against a clearly defined baseline.

The achievement is the team’s nationwide Top 10 semi-finalist recognition in the NRF Foundation University Challenge. Commercial implementation or campaign performance is not claimed.

The original work

Explore the complete proposal.

Collaborative project by Alyssa Luna, Giovanna Calabrese, and Sophia Tellez · St. Thomas University.

The original deck contains the research references, consumer personas, assortment, pricing plan, campaign calendar, and financial assumptions. Individual task ownership is not specified in the supplied material.