This goes back to that dope CEO who thought”We don’t need coupons” Yeah right dummy now your compnay is dying and good people will lose their job because of your arrogant stupidity.
I guess the diamond encrusted platinum plated felching straws were not selling so well afterall
Ron Johnson was definitely not an operations guy. You know he took the company backwards when they re-hire the former CEO to undo this mess. I feel bad for the people that have endured all this. One used to be here on FR.
. . . and of course, that “brilliant” marketing decision to focus on gays, and not the other 97% of the population.
When I was a kid, Penney’s was a step up from Sears, but it’s where families shopped.
It got less and less so, eventually it was all clothing or home decor, outside of the catalogs.
I don’t think I’ve shopped at a JCPenney in this century. . .
That most likely played into it, but people downplay the egregious slap in the face to most Americans with the awful homo-promotion in their ads. I personally know many people who swore off Penney's permanently after that affront to traditional American values.
On your point, I did work at JCPenney part-time right after college, and the coupon promotions were enormously popular among customers. We had the candy wrapper campaigns where the various percent off coupons were hidden in the chocolate bars, Willy Wonka-style. Who wouldn't like that?
JCPenny was on a downward trend before the Apple guy, but don’t get me wrong, he didn’t help things and exacerbated them.
However, all mid level department stores are generally in trouble, and have been for a long time. The low level is basically wal mart at this point, Mid Level will be down to 1 or two players eventually as well... Just a matter of time.
JCPenny’s and Sears etc just haven’t remained relevant... their customer bases are aging and dying off and they haven’t found a way to connect with younger shoppers.
Sears CEO just needs to step aside and let someone with retail experience take over. A Retail chain is not a hedge fund, this guys been trying to run it like one now for over a decade and its been a disaster. JCPenny wasn’t in as bad of shape but faced the same general trend, and then the Apple guy just eviscerated the company thinking he could turn JCPenny’s into an Apple store. They’ve done better since he’s left, but they still are facing the same general trend.
This act though I think is more of a MACRO, JCPenny is just the first to publicly be noticed, we have been in a long term recession for nearly 8 years.... and we are about to drop again. JC Penny’s won’t be the only place seeing sales and revenue drops in the coming months.