...In searching the web I came across a few articles that spoke to the JC Penny Company Inc. somewhat recent change in business strategy and the effects it has had with their customer base and business overall. In February of 2012, JC Penny launched an entirely new pricing strategy for their department stores where they were going to introduce a new technique titled “Fair and Square” pricing. This approach would basically do away with seasonal/impromptu sales along with the use of coupons. Instead their pricing on products in the stores and online were going to be at an everyday low price. In conjunction with this strategy, the retailer was going to introduce new brands to their retail store fronts (i.e. “Martha Stewart and l'amour nanette lepore”) which include a store within a store concept further distinguishing and separating the products/brands within their stores. Further detail can be referenced via the following link:http://ir.jcpenney.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=70528&p=irolnewsCompanyArticle&ID=1652614&highlight. Although these changes seemed positive and progressive at first, once implemented it had quite an adverse effect on their business overall and as a result sales have continued to suffer going into early 2013. In fact, when fourth quarter sales information was released, it showed JC Penny department sales being down 32% year over year. (Blodget, 2013. Para. 2). It was apparent that there was a disconnect between the company’s newly implemented changes/vision, and...
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...Penney was incorporated. It started out with 34 stores and 20 shareholders (Elizabeth, 2010). The shareholders were store managers, former partners, Mr. Penney as the president and major shareholder. JC Penney became a public traded listed company on the New York Stock Exchange in 1927 (Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, 2012).The headquarter is located in Plano, TX, and operates in the United States and Puerto Rico, with more than 1,100 stores and counting. JCPenney merchandises include Women’s, Kid’s, Home, Shoes, Men’s Clothing, and Bed & Bath. My role is an organization consultant. I will provide new idea to JCPenney on how they can become more profitable to consumers again. To improve sales and their image, JC Penny close their catalog business, outlet stores, exit the drug store business, and closed under-performing stores (Booten, 2011). With this reformation, many people were laid off. Problem Statement JCPenny had set the top company priority as making sales for the quarter. With downsizing, JCPenney changed their image and logos. Figure 1 display the logos for JC Penney over the years. The problem that JC Penny is facing is consumer spending. The majority of their customers were middle-class American who lost their job in the Recession of 2009. With most companies, JC Penny did not change with the time. It was struck in their old ways of during business. As a major...
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...Fair and Square Retail Strategic Analysis: JC Penny Professor Maria Kalamas MKTG 4300/01 Basic Retailing- Spring 2012 Team Shopaholics Anonymous Vaughan Alexander | Marshall Gingles | Sean Lehnherr | Aftiam Ramli | Juan Torres Table Of Contents Introduction 01 Multipart Analysis of the Retailing Mix Customers 04 Customer Service 05 Merchandise 07 Logistics 09 Price 11 Advertising & Promotion 12 Trading Area & Site Selection 13 Store Layout & Design 14 Retail Strategic Plan Controllable & Uncontrollable Variables 18 Global Retailing 20 Positioning & Differentiation 20 Strategic Direction 21 Executive Summary 22 Appendices & References 24 In 1902 founder and one time CEO James Cash Penney opened a small dry goods store in Kemmerer, Wyoming named The Golden Rule. 110 years later this once small business manager grew a company we now know as JCPenney, which has flourished into a nationwide retail department store with over 1100 store locations throughout the United States. Throughout the years JCPenney has changed an adapted to the retail market. It wasn’t till...
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...Financial Analysis FIN 534 Financial Management February 2015 In the history of retail department stores in the United States, very few companies have had the success and notoriety that J.C. Penney Company has made throughout our lives. With the exception of Sears Roebuck and Company and Macy’s, J.C. Penney is one of the more well-known companies of all time in the retail business. J.C Penney, formerly known as Penneys, is a chain of department stores that are based in Plano, Texas. The first store opened in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming by a local entrepreneur, James Cash Penney. In 1912, the company had expanded to 34 stores mainly located in the Rocky Mountain States. The original name of the stores was The Golden Rule Store until the company was incorporated under the name of J.C. Penney Company in 1913. In 1914, the company moved its headquarters to New York City to help with the simplification of financing, transportation and the simplifying of buying goods and merchandise (J.C.Penney). One important milestone for the company was the opening of their 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney’s hometown. The year 1940 was also an important moment in retail history when Sam Walton began working for J.C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Walton later went on to become one of the biggest entrepreneur’s in modern retail history with his Wal-Mart franchise. The company now has over 1100 department stores throughout the United States and also Puerto Rico (J...
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...Financial Analysis of Jc Penny A brief overview of the rebrand Financial Analysis of Jc Penny A brief overview of the rebrand History J.C. Penney Company, Inc has about 1,100 stores in all 50 states. J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCPenney) is the second largest department store in the United States behind Sears Roebuck. JCPenneys’ name came from James Cash Penney who started his first retail store in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming, a small mining town when his was 26 years old called Golden Rule. Even though the local banker cautioned Penney against opening a "cash only" store, since three other previous investor attempts failed, Penney still proceeded. In Penney's 1st year, the store successfully made $28,898 in sales. By 1913, Penney changed the company’s name to J.C. Penney Company, Inc. and moved the corporate headquarters to New York City to be closer to manufacturers and suppliers. Private label brands were a major reason for the success of the company; JC Penney could determine the price and used this to increase his profit margin. Some private label examples include Belle Isle, Ramona, and Honor Brand. In 1929 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. When the Great Depression hit, the company cut back its inventory and purchased goods at lower prices so it could pass the savings on to customers. The company's profits even increased during the Depression and the number of stores grew to 1,496. During World War II, Materials and merchandise were scarce...
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...J.C. Penney’s Real Problem: The Shrinking Middle Class * Rita McGrath April 12, 2013 Ron Johnson’s office seat has barely cooled off following his departure as business observers everywhere dissect what went so dreadfully wrong at J.C. Penney. The former Apple executive was too Silicon Valley for the Plano, Texas, retailer. He was arrogant. He didn’t test his ideas, maintaining the Apple mantra that customers don’t know what they want until you show it to them. He approved marketing campaigns that told loyal Penney’s shoppers that “you deserve to look better,” basically telling them that they looked less than glamorous wearing the brand they had trusted and been comfortable with for years. He hoarded information so that individual store merchandisers didn’t know how various lines were performing. He mocked J.C. Penney’s ways of doing things. He abandoned the discounting customers had come to expect from retailers. And he, and most of the team he recruited, were commuter leaders, jetting back to California after cramming in marathon work sessions at headquarters. These factors certainly couldn’t have helped. I think, however, there’s one major reason behind J.C. Penney’s sudden swoon that not enough commentators are picking up on. There’s one big reason JCP would never be “Bloomingdale’s for the mass market,” as Johnson wanted it to be, and that’s because the mass market is gone. Because the middle class is gone, or at least rapidly going. This reflects a troubling development...
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...J.C. Penny Corporation, Inc. Company Analysis and Prognosis Tasha Liberman CASE STUDY BACKGROUNDER #2 MGMT 498 nd July 22 , 2013 Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Company & Industry Background...................................................................................... 1 Company Strategies ............................................................................................................ 1-2 Current Financial Performance.......................................................................................... 2 Financial Performance Compare to Sub-Sector ........................................................ 2-3 Primary Macro-Level Forces ............................................................................................... 3 Micro-Level Forces.................................................................................................................. 4 Primary Strengths and Weaknesses ................................................................................. 4 Risk and Rewards Potential................................................................................
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...Bed Bath & Beyond Case Study Feinstein and Eisenberg founded a small chain of stores called “Bed n Bath” in 1971. They operated their small chain of stores in the New York and New Jersey market where they offered bed linens and bath accessories in their stores. Feinstein and Eisenberg saw an opportunity for growth in extending their offerings beyond just bed linens and bath accessories. They quickly changed their small store format in 1985 and headed towards the superstore business model. With the change in business model came a change in the company’s name, they renamed the company “Bed Bath & Beyond” in 1987. Their stores would now carry a myriad of products with a full-line of domestic home furnishings and merchandise. The first step in making the switch to the superstore model was to expand the stores in which they currently operated. In 1987, they had 20 stores and they quickly began to plan the expansion of their stores’ square footage. The average superstore at that time was approximately 40,000 square feet. As they began to convert existing stores into superstores, they also began to find new store space to build out their superstores. The new model relied on Bed Bath & Beyond being able to provide home furnishings and merchandise at a 20% to 40% discount compared to department stores. Feinstein and Eisenberg also stressed customer service and believed it was the key to success. They spent very little on marketing or advertising which meant they relied heavily...
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...Mission and Vision Statement of J.C. Penney Brooke Hall BMGT 495 Strategic Management Professor Swindell November 1, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Mission Statement 3 Vision Statement 4 JCP’s Strengths 5 JCP’s Challenges 5 Future Goals and Objectives 6 Recommendations 7 References: 8 Introduction Founded in 1902, by James Cash Penney in Kemmerer, Wyoming, JCP has witnessed dramatic changes and overhauls with the arrival of each CEO. Beginning in 2013, JCP again started fresh with the rehiring of retired CEO Myron Ullman who has taken revolutionary steps to improve the company’s performance and pricing structure (Berfield, 2013). Under the leadership of Ullman, JCP is working to rid itself of its former image of inadequate products, at least one price promotion per day, and high employee turnover, and instead focusing on fair pricing for all, interest based marketing, and spotlighting their exclusive brands in comparison to their competitors. Mission Statement According to Daft (2011), having a clear mission and vision for the future as well as a strategy for implementation are key components of accomplishing any goals within an organization. JCP’s mission is simple and straight to the point, “To drive Sales and Profit growth by ensuring our Customer and Associates always know they’re first in our Stores by what We do!” (JCPJline, 2011). As noted in our text, a mission statement serves as both a description of a company’s purpose, while simultaneously...
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...SEARS Targeting College Students Prepared For: MKT 360 – Marketing Analytics April 25, 2012 Table of Contents Section title Page Executive Summary 3 Introduction 5 Purpose of the Study 5 Sears: Trends in Sales 5 Competitors 7 Sears Consumer Segments 8 Purchasing Trends 11 Legal Issues 11 Social & Cultural Issues 12 Economic Trends 14 Technological Innovations 15 Research Objectives 17 Methodology 18 Data Analysis & Results 21 Profile of the Sample 21 Descriptive Results 23 Difference & Associative Analysis 33 Limitations 37 Conclusions & Recommendations 40 References 46 Appendix 49 List of Illustrations Figures Page Figure 1.0: Sears Brands 5 Figure 2.0: Respondent’s Gender 21 Figure 3.0: Past Six Months Mall Visits 22 Figure 4.0: Clothing Stores 23 Figure 5.0: Percent of Respondents that Purchased Fitness Equipment in the Past Two Years 24 Figure 6.0: Fitness Equipment Purchase Location 24 Figure 7.0: Most Popular Sears Brands 28 Figure 8.0: Incentives to Increase the Probability of Entering a Store 30 Figure 9.0: Social Media 31 Figure 10.0: Facebook Presence 32 Figure 11.0: Gender vs. Mall Visits 35 Tables Page Table 1.0: Respondent’s Age 22 Table 2.0: The Appeal of the Kardashian Kollection to Females 23 Table 3.0: Perception of Sears 25 Table 4.0: Cause Marketing Practices 29 Table...
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...take over competing retailers. In 1929, Macys Inc. was founded as a holding company for various department operations. As of September 2006, with the conversion of stores acquired from the Macy Department Stores Company. It serves now customers through approximately 800 stores in virtually every major geographic market in the United States, as well as the macys.com website. MARKETING MIX Missing appropriate terminology in this section. User terminology we are currently covering. PRODUCT: Terminology? * provide a wide array of apparel for men, women and kids * provide goods for the home * provides beauty, hair, fragrances and cosmetics for men and women | PRICE Terminology? * affordable goods * constant sales, coupons, and specials like One Day Sale and Family and Friends * Loyalty programs | PLACE Terminology? * 800 stores across the nation * international stores * macys.com | PROMOTION Terminology? * television ads * radio ads * social media: Facebook, Instagram * store catalogs * newspaper * mobile application...
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...JC PENNEY STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN 2012: PRODUCT STRATEGY A Paper Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science By Alisha Liane Ostlund In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major Department: Apparel, Design, and Hospitality Management April 2012 Fargo, North Dakota North Dakota State University Graduate School Title JC Penney Strategic Marketing Plan 2012: Product Strategy By Alisha Liane Ostlund The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Linda Manikowske Chair Holly Bastow-Shoop Jaeha Lee Gerry Macintosh Approved: 04-24-2012 Date Holly Bastow-Shoop Department Chair ABSTRACT The JCPenney Company has undergone a transition from a value retailer to a streamlined, customer-driven retailer in order to set itself apart from its biggest competitors, Macy’s and Kohl’s. Previously, JCP was focused on general, storewide promotions. Currently, JCP has retooled their image to reflect a standard set of prices and special savings. In this exploratory look at JCP’s merchandising strategy, both previous and new methods are examined and additional steps to improve the returns on merchandising investments are offered. During this study, a detailed examination of JCP’s internal and external environments has been conducted, and an analysis...
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...JC PENNEY STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN 2012: PRODUCT STRATEGY A Paper Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science By Alisha Liane Ostlund In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major Department: Apparel, Design, and Hospitality Management April 2012 Fargo, North Dakota North Dakota State University Graduate School Title JC Penney Strategic Marketing Plan 2012: Product Strategy By Alisha Liane Ostlund The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Linda Manikowske Chair Holly Bastow-Shoop Jaeha Lee Gerry Macintosh Approved: 04-24-2012 Date Holly Bastow-Shoop Department Chair ABSTRACT The JCPenney Company has undergone a transition from a value retailer to a streamlined, customer-driven retailer in order to set itself apart from its biggest competitors, Macy’s and Kohl’s. Previously, JCP was focused on general, storewide promotions. Currently, JCP has retooled their image to reflect a standard set of prices and special savings. In this exploratory look at JCP’s merchandising strategy, both previous and new methods are examined and additional steps to improve the returns on merchandising investments are offered. During this study, a detailed examination of JCP’s internal and external environments...
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...Background……………………………………………………………………………………………………3 2. Strategic Focus and Plan……………………………………………………………………………….3 * Mission Statement……………………………………………………………………………….3 * Goals……………………………………………………………………………………………………4 * Competitive Advantage………………………………………………………………………..4 3. Situation Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………..5 * SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………..6 * Competitor Analysis……………………………………………………………………………..7 * Company Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………7 * Customer Analysis………………………………………………………………………………..7 * Industry Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………..8 4. Market-Product Focus………………………………………………………………………………….10 * Marketing-Product objectives…………………………………………………………….10 * Target Markets…………………………………………………………………………………..10 * Points of Difference…………………………………………………………………………….11 * Positioning…………………………………………………………………………………………..11 5. Marketing Program……………………………………………………………………………………….11 * Product Strategy………………………………………………………………………………….11 * Price Strategy………………………………………………………………………………………13 * Promotion Strategy………………………………………………………………………………13 * Place Strategy………………………………………………………………………………………14 6. Financial Projections………………………………………………………………………………………14 * Break-even Analysis……………………………………………………………………………..14 7. Organization……………………………………………………………………………………………………15 8. Implementation Plan……………………………………………………………………………………..16 9. Evaluation and Control...................................................................
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...Avon Case Study Brief information about the domain of the company Avon is New York based 125 year old beauty product manufacturer that appoints the manufacture and marketing of beauty and fashion products, which has for over a century left a mark on millions of people throughout hundreds of countries The Company covers primarily North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Avon’s products are classified into three categories: Beauty, Beauty Plus, and Beyond Beauty. The “Beauty” category consists of cosmetics, fragrances, skin care, and toiletries; “Beauty Plus” includes fashion jewelry, watches, apparel, and accessories; and “Beyond Beauty” comprises home products, gift and decorative products, candles, and toys. Avon earned a great reputation with its direct selling technique. This technique consists of selling the products directly to distributors or final consumers rather than trading companies or other intermediaries in order to accomplish greater control over the marketing function and to earn higher profits. The status of the company that led to its Determination that a change was necessary Several decades ago, Avon brought a perfect sagacity on many wives stayed at home, and some overprotective husbands didn't want them out shopping. Avon jumped up to the marketing arena with its growing fleet of representatives offering...
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