Nordstrom stock is down 52% in the last 12 months. Only Macy’s stock performs worse in the S&P 500 retail index.
It’s clear that Nordstrom should not have bought HautLook in 2011 and Trunk Club in 2014. In 2016, Nordstrom wrote down the value of Trunk Club by half of its $350m purchase. That’s $175m in value it desperately needed to spend elsewhere to compete with Amazon. Each million dollar mistake today results tens of millions in lost opportunity next year. Mistakes have exponential ramifications in the fast-moving tech and retail war.