May 21 (Reuters) - Macy's posted a

bigger-than-expected drop in first-quarter sales on Tuesday,

hobbled by stiff competition from off-price retailers for

shoppers increasingly cautious about spending on products such

as apparel and footwear.

The upscale department store operator's net sales fell 2.7%

to $4.85 billion. Analysts on average had expected sales to drop

2.42% to $4.86 billion, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in

Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)