Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, January 31, 2012
Retail What Do You Think of the New J.C. Penney Plan?
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 2:23 PM
Harvard Business Review tells us about former Apple Senior Vice President of Retail Operations and current J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson's attempts to rebuild the department store into something new:
... Johnson aims to create 80 to 100 highly-branded "stores within a store" (e.g. a Martha Stewart boutique). Channeling the spirit of Apple's Genius Bar, every J.C. Penney will also have a "Town Square" offering complimentary services to customers as well as promotions such as free hot dogs and ice cream in July.
The lynchpin of J.C. Penney's revitalization is a new "Fair and Square Every Day" pricing strategy. The plan stems from Johnson's realization that three-quarters of everything sold at J.C. Penney is typically sold at a 50% discount from list price. Instead of using deep discount sales to attract customers, starting this week the chain will simply offer three prices: (1) "Every Day", (2) "Month Long Value" (theme sales such as back-to-school related products in August), and (3) "Best Prices" (clearance). Prices will also now end in "0" instead of "99" and price tags will list just one price (instead of including the de rigueur "previously sold at a higher price" convention).
When I was a kid, Sears tried to do away with sales, pushing an everyday low prices angle. It was a New Coke-level disaster that lasted, if I recall correctly, much less than a year. Is this re-imagining destined for the same fate? Or is Johnson going to redesign the department store for the 21st century? Is this the first real attempt to make brick-and-mortar stores something that the internet can't replicate? It's up to you to decide, Slog!
1
I haven't seen a JC Penney store since I left Michigan 12 years ago. Their ads are all over the place but I don't know where the hell their stores are.
2
They could use something new. The stores-within-a-store certainly works for Nordstroms (and 99 Ranch Market, and, like, most "department" stores in the world). I'll bet at least one or two of the concepts they try will stick. The rest they'll dump.
3
So innovative that...it's an exact copy of how the Bay works in any major city in Canada.
Good luck with that.
Good luck with that.
7
A link: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/understa…
In much of small-town America, Penney's may be the only brick-and-mortar clothing store (my local Sears storefront sells lawnmowers and appliances only, and the franchisees are assholes). I've bought a ton of flannel shirts "on sale" at $12.99 and they've upgraded the quality of their previously all-sandpaper Towncraft brand, so don't fuck with the basics and I'll keep shopping. I have all the Nordy's suits I'll ever need from years ago.
In much of small-town America, Penney's may be the only brick-and-mortar clothing store (my local Sears storefront sells lawnmowers and appliances only, and the franchisees are assholes). I've bought a ton of flannel shirts "on sale" at $12.99 and they've upgraded the quality of their previously all-sandpaper Towncraft brand, so don't fuck with the basics and I'll keep shopping. I have all the Nordy's suits I'll ever need from years ago.
10
I would call the no sales thing a shitty move. How I shop at JC Penney may be unique to only me, but I doubt it. Every year there are two massive sales in malls (where JCP is usually found): around black friday and basically the rest of winter after Christmas in order to clear all the Christmas stock. I know I will find deals at the anchor stores, so I take a break from my usual buying patterns and waddle over. that usually includes a cursory stroll through JCP.
Interesting thing that happened to me last time I went: EVERYTHING was on sale, at least 40% off, but the sale prices were NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. I thought $30 was not bad for a certain pair of shoes, so I bought them and ended up paying $15 at the register! WTF? Why would not slap a $15 price tag on the shoes themselves? Their merch would fly out the door. No wonder they feel the need to reinvent themselves. Shit is broken, but hot dogs and NO SALES won't solve their problems.
Interesting thing that happened to me last time I went: EVERYTHING was on sale, at least 40% off, but the sale prices were NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. I thought $30 was not bad for a certain pair of shoes, so I bought them and ended up paying $15 at the register! WTF? Why would not slap a $15 price tag on the shoes themselves? Their merch would fly out the door. No wonder they feel the need to reinvent themselves. Shit is broken, but hot dogs and NO SALES won't solve their problems.
11
I'm glad they're doing away with sales that only run a few hours. Some of us happen to work and I'd refuse to even look at their sale ads because I'd just get angry that the price of something would double because I couldn't get there before noon on a Thursday or something.
Also, they're hiring Ellen Degeneres as a spokesperson/advertising character. I cut-up my J C Penney credit card and mailed the pieces to the company President when they pulled their ads from her sitcom on ABC 15-ish years ago just because she liked pussy. How times have changed.
Also, they're hiring Ellen Degeneres as a spokesperson/advertising character. I cut-up my J C Penney credit card and mailed the pieces to the company President when they pulled their ads from her sitcom on ABC 15-ish years ago just because she liked pussy. How times have changed.
12
Whatever keeps them in business is fine with me. They're one of the few retailers left who actually still sell apparel in tall sizes. This is especially nice when it comes to undershirts and everyday dress shirts.
13
Oddly I walked into the Penny's at Nortgate Mall. Talk about a fucking cluster fuck of confusion. I couldn't find anything so yeah, sure add a bunch of "mini-stores" to make it even more of a cluster.
Penny's bankrupt by 2016.
Penny's bankrupt by 2016.
14
I've been commenting on Seattle Transit Blog (the crypto-Social Engineering screed of the Queen City) how, although they condemn the sprawl of the suburbs, Southcenter Mall, for example, inside has a very high density both of shops per square foot and of people walking about (the inside of Southcenter is completely "car-free"). Now, JC Penny is building a dense mall -- within a mall! This might speak to an implosion of big boxes into tiny little ones, like in the medieval days of vendors hawking from stalls (or at Pike Place Market).
15
i'm with cato. the store-within-a-store thing is frightfully frustrating. i don't think many women go to the mall looking for some item of apparel that is BCBG; they're looking for a dress to wear to a holiday party. it's nothing but irritating to have to wander through the Skanks and Whores Department, then the Kindergarten Teacher Department, then the Old Lady Department, then the Fat Lady Department, then the Holy Shit Everything In Here Is Fucking $500 Department before you finally find the goddamn dresses. that kind of frustration has made me leave a store empty handed so many more times than it has made me buy something i didn't originally intend to.
16
@15 - word. If I go to Penney's, it's pretty much for either a winter coat or basic undergarments (the Southcenter one has a particularly good bra department, and really good fitters). They've always had the best prices on decent winter coats, for some reason. I don't want to have to wander through the specialty coat subdepartments; I want all the coats in one place. I want all the formal dresses in one place. I want all the bras in one place.
17
#15
You realize of course that the store within a store is the (successful) model of Nordstrom.
Brass Plum for teens.
And so on...
You realize of course that the store within a store is the (successful) model of Nordstrom.
Brass Plum for teens.
And so on...
20
#18
That's enough of your brass!
Informal . excessive self-assurance; impudence; effrontery. "
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/b…
21
Haven't been in JCPenney or jcp or whatever they're calling it now for years. For most of my childhood my mom dragged me into Penney's (Northgate, Southcenter, Downtown, even West Seattle) to buy my clothes. Boy was I glad when I finally got old enough to get to buy clothes at the Bon Marche, maybe even Nordstrom.
I don't think there is anything they could do merchandising wise to get me to go into a Penney's as a first or second choice when shopping.
I don't think there is anything they could do merchandising wise to get me to go into a Penney's as a first or second choice when shopping.
22
I like the idea of straightforward pricing; it's high time retailers stopped the kind of "$X.99" or "Previously $TOO MUCH, now on MEGA CLEARANCE for $SLIGHTLY LESS BUT STILL TOO MUCH" shit that's just patently, obviously insulting to customers. I give zero fucks about JC Penney, though.
24
after enduring their new commercials featuring several people screaming "NOOOOO!" for 30 seconds, I vowed never to enter a JC Penny store—regardless of my love for ellen degeneres.
27
I'm an old white guy with no sense of fashion, and I shop at Penny's because the clothes are cheap and well-suited (ha!) for old fat men, and the quality is pretty good. Most of the other customers I see there are either non-white females who are obviously mothers/wives shopping for their families or even older men. Penny's needs to hold on to this demographic unless they want to go under. Will the scheme work? Only if they aren't perceived as becoming more expensive. I don't think attracting the up-scale market will work.
28
Unfortunatly consumers are like cattle. A store buys a product for $10, to retail it for $20. It doesnt sell. Mark it up to $40 and give them a coupon for 50% off, it sells. They don't have a clue. All they want is a "deal". It's too bad about Pennys. They tried to do it honestly. Just teaches the next generation.... Don't be honest with people... You have to fool them. Kind of like what polititions have to do. Don't tell them the truth... Tell them what they want to hear. What a sad state we are in.
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