Hudson Bay Struggles Today

Today Hudson Bay Company is at an uphill battle in Canada’s Department store war. Although Hudson Bay may be the oldest it is no longer fit to dominate the market like it used to. Hudson Bay has dated back to 1670 with fur trading company then branched out. Three centuries HBC (Hudson Bay Company) is Canada’s largest department store retailer. Today HBC operated under 3 banners: The Bay, Zellers, and Home Outfitters. 2002 the revenue of HBC for that year was the same as the year before. Net earnings dropped from 125.3 million to 72.8 million. This was a slow year for clothing sales for The Bay and seeing how Clothing sales account got 70% of revenue this was a dramatic change. The Bay is losing its share in the market to competitors. The Bay is trying to improve its operating efficiency. The Bay has made significant investment in technology. To implement a common computer platform, a common HBC rewards and credit card was implemented to encourage cross-banner shopping. In 2001, Th...