Macy's reports USD298 million in combined gift-card and loyalty liabilities

Macy's reported a USD298 million combined liability for unredeemed gift cards and customer loyalty programmes at August 1, 2026, in its September 10 quarterly filing.

The balance was USD51 million below the USD349 million reported at January 31, a calculated decline of 14.6%. It was also USD3 million, or about 1%, below the USD301 million recorded a year earlier. The filing does not split the total between purchased gift cards and earned loyalty rewards. [S01] [S02]

That scope matters for interpreting the movement. A change in the combined obligation cannot establish how gift-card sales, redemption or breakage changed individually. Nor does it identify how much of the balance belongs to Macy's, Bloomingdale's or Bluemercury, the group's three retail nameplates.

Two routes into a customer obligation

For gift cards, Macy's records a liability when value is sold or issued and recognises revenue when customers redeem it for merchandise. The company says its gift cards carry no fees and do not expire. It recognises breakage, or revenue from value expected to remain unredeemed, proportionately as cards are redeemed, using at least three years of historical data updated annually. That estimation period is not an expiry date for customer cards. [S01]

Loyalty value enters the accounts differently. Macy's Star Rewards customers earn points through spending on the retailer's own and co-branded credit cards, other payment cards and other forms of payment. Bloomingdale's Loyallist and Bluemercury BlueRewards also award points without requiring a particular payment method.