Nordstrom Not Buying Ivanka Trump Apparel Only Proves Election Hurt the Brand

A boycott movement that started in reaction to the leaked audio of Donald Trump claiming to be so famous he could grab women by the “p***y” is claiming victory following retailer Nordstrom’s announcement that they would not be purchasing any items from the Ivanka Trump brand’s fall line.

The #GrabYourWallet campaign advocated for shoppers — particularly women — to stop buying Trump brand products, including items from Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

Nordstrom has explicitly maintained since before the election that their stores carrying or not carrying items from the Ivanka Trump brand was not a political statement for or against.

our customers can make choices about what they purchase based on personal views & we'll continue to give them options. (2/2)

— Nordstrom (@Nordstrom) November 2, 2016

It’s not political, it’s business.

Nordstrom’s statement on the purchasing change reiterated the decision was based on numbers:

We’ve said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. We’ve got thousands of brands – more than 2,000 offered on the site alone. Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of our business. Each year we cut about 10 percent and refresh our assortment with about the same amount. In this case, based on the brand’s performance we’ve decided not to buy it for this season.

It’s unlikely that the #GrabYourWallet campaign alone caused the declining sales and not simple demographics. Ivanka Trump clothing is geared toward the young, professional woman, a group Donald Trump tanked with during the election and hasn’t improved upon much since.

Economists and others speculated over the course of the election whether or not the election would hurt the Ivanka Trump brand’s bottom line. The company is privately held, so we don’t know the exact numbers, so this is our best indicator that the Trump brand has been negatively affected by the election.

At this point, it’s clearly a useful optic for the anti-Trump “resistance” crowd, whose favorite activity is to boycott and protest.