Posted on 03/02/2013 7:34:55 AM PST by Sir Napsalot
.... Fourth-quarter earnings results came out on Wednesday and they were terrible. The bad news starts with a quarterly loss of $427 million, but it doesn’t end there. Comparable store sales—meaning stores that were open this past quarter and also open in the same quarter of the previous year—fell by a mind-boggling 32 percent. Henry Blodget says it may have been the worst quarter posted by any retailer ever.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. JCPenney made a big splash in the retail world by hiring Ron Johnson, mastermind of Apple’s retail operations, as CEO. He immediately set about to reorganize the stores, and imported Apple concepts, most notably a “no discounting” policy geared around convincing customers that the everyday price is a great price. The results seemed to speak for themselves, but I was curious. After all, I’ve never given the “new” JCPenney a try. Perhaps Johnson is a visionary genius who’s reinvented the department store, and the world just isn’t ready for him. Perhaps he’s the victim of bad luck. Perhaps shareholders just need to hold on and have faith.
So I took the Metro to the Maryland suburbs for a visit to the JCPenney in the Wheaton Plaza Mall to see if Johnson really is reviving the legendary chain. .... Nobody was ever driven into bankruptcy by unreliable Wi-Fi, but that’s the Ron Johnson Era in a nutshell. Instead of building on what the people who like JCPenney liked about JCPenney, he undertook a series of essentially arbitrary changes that alienated some without drawing anyone new in.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
J.C. Pennys management put themselves out of business and no change of leadership will help them now.
Just like Sears the high minded business school graduates don't have a clue who their real customer base was and their every move pushed more cash spending customers out the door.
J.C. Penny selection, advertisement methods, store decor and pricing put the final nails in their coffin
I used to buy Levis 501's from them but I can buy them cheaper online and J.C Pennys never had the size I wanted anyway forcing me to visit 3 or more locations.
But it's been many years since I bought there - Their working man stuff is crap.
Anyone out there that needs that sort of stuff, let me turn you on to Duluth Trading Company. Cost seems expensive the first go around, but you simply won't believe the difference in quality and engineering. The stuff just lasts and lasts (and lasts sommore).
Never heard of Peter Millar...What's he do???
You know the rules-need pics of your sharp suit.:)
I worked retail at Mont.Wards after being laid off for a couple of years back in the 80s. At that time, they dumped their old model of salesmen & services for the Target model.
MW no longer exists.
Go back a few more years. Everyone wanted to buy American - cars were first. The elites wanted trade deals and all the rest. Anyone who didn’t want to buy Japanese, for example, was made fun of. Eventually we couldn’t find American made in any store. Even our food now comes from Mexico.
It was never what we wanted, because we knew our country was losing jobs and losing our national security. Now it’s here and the elites are still doing what we don’t want done.
Multinational corporations pay off our politicians and force American out of the stores. We speak of Walmart etc as if they were loyal to America - they aren’t.
Say goodbye to the middle class and hello to serfdom. Say goodbye to the American culture that was based on Christian values and hello to Nihilism.
I'm not arguing nor supporting Best Buy... just curious...
I noticed that, too. They dropped a lot of brands I favored, like Waverly brand curtains fr’instance, and their normally huge selection of curtains and bedding is now nearly non existent. And I hate the new sales catalog that comes with the newspaper on Sundays...one eccentrically colored t-shirt alone on a page, and so many neon colors...definitely targeting the youth market. I was in just a month ago to the Penneys in Fresno River Park, mainly because there was only one car in the parking lot and I was curious, and the store was bare. I asked if they were closing (when I could find a salesperson) and was told they were just reorganizing...but I smell closure very soon. I must admit I just did Penneys Online yesterday and found some nice shoes in their shoe clearance dept. for $20.
People buying gadgets and (small) appliances more often from online sources (esp. with Amazon) now.
Not sure about the Geek Squad.
The author’s first mistake was going to Wheaton Plaza. That place has been depressing roughly forever.
As to J.C.Penney, Johnson took the SF/Bay Area mentality into Middle America. He made it into a homophile chain pretty much overnight, with spokesperson Ellen Degeneres and the ‘two dads,’ ‘two moms’ celebrations of Father’ Day and Mother’ Day.
1. CEO without a plan or turnaround strategy.
2. Discontinuing coupons in a time where folks need to save money
3. Re-designing stores - was the "new JCP" a necessary investment
4. Losing touch with customer base by promoting pro-homosexual ads and not identifying with core customers in ads.
5. Strategy of "pens" win a prize to get people in the store....gimmicks
Everyone should watch this CNBC interview with a JCP board member. He's so far off base, even the hosts can't believe what they are hearing. Probably explains why the board keeps Johnson in place.
Just asked my wife (who used to be an avid JCP shopper) why she rarely goes there anymore. Immediate response - “Ellen Degenerate”.
Kohls has always known how to market customers. Those 33% off sales and senior Wednesday deals always work. Kohls always have a sale. I used to work for them about 20 years ago. I was just a peon. They still do what they know works.
Whenever I go in a Kohls anymore, I admire them for having clean upscale stores and a great marketing strategy!
I think the first thing they have to do is get rid of that gay president. Next, get rid of the rest of the gay stuff.
Then apologize to the country and support pro-family positions and groups. They will see a HUGE SURGE in sales, from people just like us.
Will it happen? Of course not, that would be “too risky”. Instead they will choose to “play it safe” and slide into Chapter 7 and the history books.
I buy about everything except clothes from Amazon. There are always so many choices. With Amazon Prime and two day delivery, it is a no brainer.
The CEO was such an in your face and up your butt hateful liberal....
Left globalism is basically astroturf of loud mouths and their mindless herd followers (young liberals/libertarians); like Madow’s fans on Twitter - illusion. It does not equate into the reality of profits in a National consumer base.
Products and deals sell, not the left’s evil social agenda. This CEO built a small niche market for Apple from his political “base.” He made Apple a “cool” brand name as opposed to “old fogie” microsoft.
That was a temporary fad and is drying up like Job’s corpse.
The Geek Squad sucks! They don't know crap, do no hardware repairs on site and are way overpriced.
The Geek Squad sucks! They don't know crap...
Agree. Their incompetence is criminal.
People go into Best Buy, spend 30 minutes with the sales clerk finding out what the best camera or laptop or dishwasher then they go home and order it online for a few bucks less plus free shipping and no sales tax.
Yeah, I note that L.L. Bean even says “imported” on most of their merchandise. But they still price it as though it was made right here.
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