pandering to the filthy 1% is NOT good for the bottom line...
Posted on 12/26/2012 3:28:17 PM PST by Morgana
Former retail titan JCPenney (JCP) is in trouble. The 1,100 store mall staple is in the middle of a radical redesign under CEO Ron Johnson, who led the roll-out of Apple's wildly successful retail locations prior to coming to JCP. In an investor presentation at the beginning of 2012, Johnson promised to do nothing short of re-invent the department store concept. But it hasn't worked out that way.
JCP stock is down more than 40% in 2012, sales are collapsing, and employee enthusiasm has deteriorated to the point that the company was forced to announce in an SEC filing that morale was an actual threat to operations. It doesn't have to end this way, however. JCP can save itself, but only if it acts fast and with a decisiveness that has so far eluded the chain during its revamp.
In the attached clip, OptionMonster.com co-founder Jon Najarian and I discuss the future of JCP and whether or not Ron Johnson is the right man to lead a rebirth of the venerable chain. Here's a three step process that gives JCP its last, best chance to save itself:
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Maybe it's because.......
I quit shopping JC Penny;s when they quit carrying my American made clothing. I wrote to them. I emailed them. Finally I just said forget it. Haven’t missed them at all.
Gay-Gayer-Gayest
Didn’t JCP institute a wall-to-wall campaign to go after the homosexual market?
What happened to that brilliant idea? Is Ron Johnson the genius who came up with it?
Heh. “Ron Johnson.” That’s kind of funny in itself.
Maybe they can bounce back with a marketing strategy geared towards homosexuals, transgenders and illegal immigrants.
Still. Gay-friendly doesn’t seem to hurt Home Depot or Target business.
Maybe it is simply a changing paradigm for department stores.
With so many competitors all advertising beating depart store prices, and younger people seemed to find stuff more from their smart phones/tablets, tradition retail businesses hurting all over, not just jcp.
Dear JCP: our family has enjoyed shopping JCP for generations. You have a lot of really fine merchandise and your store (and mail order service too) is great!
But we were really “turned off” by your recent homosexual-oriented catalog.
Why do that?
You need to re-examine that....
This article does even address the Elephant in the room,
JC Penny’s liberal social stance.
I would not invest a dime in this company.
they stopped their weekly advertising with coupons
...and not because they used Ellen in their ads, folks.
” Gay-friendly doesn’t seem to hurt Home Depot or Target business.”
Do Home Depot or Target run ads with children and their homosexual “parent” couples?
“they stopped their weekly advertising with coupons “
They were going swiftly downhill while they were still doing that.
I can’t speak for the rest of the U.S., but JCPenney used to be my “go to” department store. After the ‘two dads’ ad, I stopped going there, and took “JC Penney gift cards” off of my wish list.
JCP is likely headed for the graveyard no matter who they hire or don’t hire as a spokesman.
I quit shopping when their spokesman became Ellen Degenerate!
I won’t be back!
When I got their first gay catalog, I sent them a message to stop sending me gay catalogs and I won’t buy from them anymore. I always bought curtains and bedspreads/sheets/blankets from them but with their gay attitude, in my mind, their bedding is now tainted. Don’t care what happens to them.
Their corporate and marketing strategy has been suicidal and uncompromisingly gay.
Agree with your post.
JCP is looked upon as your grandmother’s dept store.
They’re going the same way as Mercury, Oldsmobile, and Plymouth.
Paid them off 6 mos ago. never gone back. never will.
If you have to ask then you know that that fact is only an issue to FReepers on this site. The rest of the population is likely clueless.......
Haven’t set foot in the store since they went perv. Hate when this happens to such a long-time business with a great heritage and history. Used to buy a fair number of items there. But they made their decision to join with the forces of deviancy. To hell with them.
Most of the time, any business that needs a “survival plan” is already a walking corpse. Short of an influx of obama-stash cash it is over (and for JCP that would only delay the inevitable).
Ironically the author ends the piece with JCPs epitaph:
“Flawed or not, JCP and Johnson have laid out a plan. The pity is the company on its current path will run out of money and customers before anyone knows if the new model can work.”
“I quit shopping JC Penny;s when they quit carrying my American made clothing”
-
So where on earth do you shop now? Even my pricey catalogue and internet companies have only imported clothing.
.
It appears there is a big difference between retailing Apple electronics (incessantly pimped by Rush Limbaugh) and commodity clothing and household items (incessantly pimped by Ellen).
But not to worry, I’m sure Ron Johnson will walk away with a huge payoff.
I agree with both you and Sir Napsalot. Sad fact is, JCP’s business model is becoming increasingly obsolete. Like you said, they’re “Grandma’s department store”, and at this point, I doubt anything could really turn it around.
I also think maybe this coming year (2013) Sears/KMart is likely to go under as well. Sears has been in trouble for a long time, and that KMart deal bought them a few years, but that’s coming to an end. I wouldn’t be surprised if by next fall, both JCP and Sears are history.
JCP is looked upon as your grandmother’s dept store. They’re going the same way as Mercury, Oldsmobile, and Plymouth.
I rarely shopped at JCP and Sears and stopped many years ago (early 80’s). Why? Their prices were too high, they had a poor selection, advertised sales items were often out of stock (Sears being especially notorious for that), the woman’s fashions, even in the “juniors” department looked like the clothes were hand selected by my 80 year old grandmother and most of all, lousy customer service. In fact when I was a teenager in the 70’s, if you wanted to insult a girl you didn’t like, you’d tell them “you look like your mother bought your clothes at J.C. Penny (or Sears)”. JCP could hire Sarah Palin and Chuck Norris as their spokes persons but absent any real change in their stores, selection, prices and having a better on-line presence, that wouldn’t be enough to get me to start shopping there again.
I thought the comments were interesting.
For a company whose guidelines to fashion buyers are:
1) Do not offer any item for sale which is attractive to a 50+ year old.
2) Do offer items for sale that are attractive to homosexual transgender adolescent punks.
I think a fashion line named “FAIL” would be quite appropriate.
The merchandise has become shoddy, although that seems to be true everywhere. I used to buy my home goods there (bedding, towels, etc.(. Last few items I bought at Penneys fell apart in a few months. I'm on a fixed income bow. Can't afford to throw money away on junk.
It’s a stop idea. Shopping is largely a shared experience between fire ds, family and even the clerk.
Unless one is like me and knows what size they are in different manifacturers you generally need to try on a pair of shoes, that shirt or suit for fit.
I don’t bother because I stick to a few manufacurers for clothes and they always fit.
As a result I can walk into the store and grab Brooks Bros. Right off the rack or even Allen Edmundsen shoes with confidence.
I order that stuff online anymore and when go to the mall I rarely buy.
Maybe you’re right, but everyone I know who has stopped shopping at JCP has done so ONLY because of Ellen and in-your-face gay ads/pandering. I’ve never heard the word “coupon” mentioned.
The 800 lb elephant in the room goes unmentioned.
Most retailers, if not all, aren’t getting the kind of sales they used to before the economy took a tumble.
People are holding on to what they have a little bit longer, and will only make the necessary purchases. That goes for computers and appliances and clothing and shoes and all household goods.
Only Apple and a few other gadgets seem to be immune to the realities of the market, but, even there, Apple stock has taken a big hit of more than $200 recently, which is probably an indication that investors expect Apple to go the way of the rest of the retail markets. Windows-based PCs haven’t been selling as well as they used to, but no doubt, it’s more about the decisions that people are making to keep their still perfectly good older computers a bit longer.
In a better economy, there is no doubt that Sears and Penny would be doing better, but might still be in trouble for mistakes in management.
Maybe it’s because.......
they stopped their weekly advertising with coupons
...and not because they used Ellen in their ads, folks.
&&&
I shopped JCP for years. I was happy with their merchandise and their prices but dropped them like a hot potato when they came out with their homosexual propaganda catalogue.
I stopped shopping Target when they started carrying sodomite greeting cards.
Miss the goods and services from both stores, but I choose not to support them.
Well, that's sure changed (see my comment #27). Actually, that's precisely what my family is looking for -- modest, traditional designs.
absent any real change in their stores, selection, prices and having a better on-line presence
I think it's safe to say all those things have changed at both Sears and JCP since the 70s and 80s.
Step 1; Collect underpants
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit!
STOP THE GAY MADNESS!!!! What IDIOTS!!!
Ron Johnson is a kook. He plans to transform “JCP” into mini-malls. Asinine.
Penney's sells the uniform elements my grandkids wear to Parochial School (and is the only place in driving range which does) but I can't handle the cognitive disconnect necessary to buy Catholic School uniforms for the kids from a place with 'two mommy' and 'two daddy' ads.
We order online, if it doesn't fit, we donate those to the school (not all the students families are well off) and try again.
We don't shop at Penney's any more.
pandering to the filthy 1% is NOT good for the bottom line...
It's not just Ellen in their ads, it is the Father's Day circular sent to my home featuring gay guys with kids; and gay women with kids on Mothers day. They may not have realized it (although I can't believe they didn't); but, this told me that I was no longer the customer base they were interested in.
Personally, I don't go in there as often as I used to because the lack of product in the store has made me wonder if they are really in financial dire straits. I used to walk thru the local Penny's and if I wandered off the main aisles, I would be brushing against clothing and turning sideways to get between circular racks. Now, the amount of merchandise is really down. Not much selection.
And they threw the Salvation Army off their doorsteps 10+ years ago; whereupon their sales figures dropped for at least the first year. I've never been back.
A pox on both their houses -- Target and JCP.
The difference is that the people that might not go to Target (some) wouldn’t be caught dead in Wal-mart or K-mart. JCP is directly in competition with Macy’s, Kohl’s and Sears - so there are easy (and very comparable) choices.
>>But we were really “turned off” by your recent homosexual-oriented catalog.
Why do that?>>
I was too. But, I had discovered a few years ago that their merchandise was definitely not as good as it had been in my opinion. Their Father’s Day was the final insult to me.
>>But we were really “turned off” by your recent homosexual-oriented catalog.
Why do that?>>
I was too. But, I had discovered a few years ago that their merchandise was definitely not as good as it had been in my opinion. Their Father’s Day was the final insult to me.
well JCP will definitely throw the baby out with the bathwater if its merchandise quality declines
the merchandise has always been JCP’s attraction. it never went into high styles or much of the latest fashion trends. we went to Penneys to get good stuff, period. nothing especially fancy, just reliable goods really
(the last clothing and drapes we got there, within the last couple years, also an electric blanket, all were good...)
but yes, if the quality goes down, the customers will go elsewhere
Sure is a strange strategy. I shop JCP because their clothes actually fit me without alterations. 10P is my size, rather small. Other stores carry that size, of course, but only JCP does it right for me.
It’s getting harder to shop there for a couple of reasons. 1. Their petite department has shrunk considerably in the lasts couple of years, and 2. You can rarely find anyone working there. Not even cashiers, which raises my eyebrows a lot...how many customers are just stealing stuff? Would play havoc with the bottom line.
I never read ads, have no clue how gay or ungay they are. But if they go under, I’m going to be really ticked.
Shoddy is true everywhere. Everything is junk. Unless you buy top-of-the-line merchandise at inflated prices, and half of that is junk too. Thanks so much, 1 percenters.
You mean Gay C Penney’s in trouble? Who’d a thunk it?
Hmmm.....Maybe it’s because they chose to cater to 2% of the population (most of whom would rather be boiled in oil than caught in a JCP) at the expense of the other 98%.
And it’s not just the ad campaigns - I used to be a regular customer, as they had decent clothes in “big and tall” sizes at decent prices. Just checked out a couple of local JCP’s before Christmas - they have almost nothing that I would take for free in my size, let alone anything I would pay for, and everything is overpriced. I’ll stick with Belks from now on I guess.
Activist homos destroy everything they touch - EVERYTHING.
My Mom and I used to shop there, and my Mom used to love to go there. She refuses to shop there now that they did the two moms Mother’s Day ad and the two dads Father’s Day ad. JCP became obsessed with promoting an agenda as opposed to just selling clothes, and while they felt confident in being able to make money with the young and liberals and alright with alienating Christians, it doesn’t seem to be working out for them.
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