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How JCPenney’s new CEO successfully rehabbed an old brand

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jcp How JCPenneys new CEO successfully rehabbed an old brand

JCPenney has gone Fair and Square

JCPenney’s new CEO is the brains behind the Apple Genius bar, and JCP is getting that streamlined flavor Apple is so well known for.
In February of this year, JCPenney took a different approach to their whole marketing program; they call it Fair and Square pricing. What is to be said for the whole marketing program and reprogramming that has been underway for JCPenney for the last quarter? The new Fair and Square Pricing program goes well beyond the rounded to whole dollars pricing system, there were cuts made to prices across the board and no more coupons. Yep. I said it. No more JCPenney coupons for the staff to track.

In the past, where the company’s marketing division would send out circulars and newspaper advertisements with over five-hundred coupon options in a year- SHAZAM! That is a ton of coupons for people to try to make sure were valid and usable… confusing even to the staff, let alone the customers. Fair and Square Pricing was going to be the end to the confusion, and a few other things…


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Clearing out the clutter

With the end of coupon clipping at JCP also came the end of many managers’ jobs. The elimination of non-crucial jobs meant bringing on staff to properly train the remaining employees on the new outlook, promotions and mindset of the JCP vision. Clearing out the clutter so-to-speak, not only in the over staffing, but also in the look and presentation of the visual merchandising. To take a peek in the new store is to take a look at the company’s new dossier, likely penned by their new leader, former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations for Apple, Inc., Ron Johnson.

Getting back to their roots

“On every visit, customers will discover straightforward Fair and Square Pricing, month-long promotions that are in sync with the rhythm of their lives, exceptionally curated merchandise, artful presentation, and unmatched customer service.”
“Over 110 years ago, James Cash Penney founded his company on the principle of treating customers the way he wanted to be treated himself: fair and square. Today, rooted in its rich heritage, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is re-imagining every aspect of its business in order to reclaim its birthright and become America’s favorite store.

The Company is transforming the way it does business and remaking the customer experience across its 1,100 jcpenney stores and on jcp.com. On every visit, customers will discover straightforward Fair and Square Pricing, month-long promotions that are in sync with the rhythm of their lives, exceptionally curated merchandise, artful presentation, and unmatched customer service.”

Follow the leader

JCP may be on its way to something pretty interesting with the leadership if Johnson, the brilliant mind behind the Apple Genius bar. We can call him the Genius behind the Apple Store itself… we’ll call that a win for Apple. How about his amazing record sales profits when he captained the ship for The Gap? Impressive, yes… but with JCP, there was much to be done… Coupons, staffing, merchandising, marketing- just to name a few.

“with lowered stock shelves to clear the visual line throughout the store, the shelves have less merchandise cluttering them, making the store feel a lot less like it is going to fall in on you.”
With the new streamlined look of the JCP stores, with lowered stock shelves to clear the visual line throughout the store, the shelves have less merchandise cluttering them, making the store feel a lot less like it is going to fall in on you. In December, during Christmas time, when many of the bustling seasonal staffers were there piling and piling merchandise onto the floor, armed with their ticketing guns and coupon guides, there was a totally different feel.

Did I mention there are no more pricing guns used? Just people and their dexterous little fingers. Eliminate the cost of the pricing guns and just show people how to stick stickers in a uniform way. Simple. Now, most stores have a perfectly centered Sephora chain (smooth move, JCP) to anchor the stores, and hip music and calming, more zen like visuals, JCP is certainly changing the direction of their store and at a fast pace.

Now that is fair and square

No more ninety-nine cents behind the decimal point.
No more ninety-nine cents behind the decimal point, JCP has changed the way people are going to view their pricing system. They may have had to do some cut backs to get a staff that is more streamlined and more highly trained in their mission and product line, but if they are going in a direction that takes people away from fishing for coupons and having direct product pricing, a store that is efficient for the staff, and effective for theft deterrence due to the open, airy nature, the profitability will more than likely go up.

Taking notes from his Scion, the Apple Store and Target, Ron Johnson is likely to lead JCP back to their fair and square roots. People seem to like it.

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Genevieve Concannon

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Genevieve Concannon is one of those multifaceted individuals who brings business savvy, creativity and conscientiousness to the table in real estate and social media.  Genevieve takes marketing and sustainability in a fresh direction- cultivating some fun and funky grass roots branding and marketing strategies that set her and Arbour Realtyapart from the masses. Always herself and ready to help others understand sustainability in building a home or a business, Genevieve brings a new way to look at marketing yourself in the world of real estate and green building- because she's lived it and breathed it and played in the sand piles with the big-boys.  If you weren't aware, Genevieve is a sustainability nerd, a ghost writer and the event hostess with the mostess in NoVa. 

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  • Roland Estrada

    Coming from Apple roots is not a guarantee of success but it sure helps. The mantra at Apple is SIMPLICITY. As quoted from the book on Apples guiding principles, Insanely Simple – “Complexity is easy, simplicity is hard work”. Ron Johnson still has some hard work ahead of him but he is certainly on the right track. Don’t confuse people with to much information.
     
    On a similar note, Tony Fadell the “father of the iPod”, started Nest. Fadell thought the thermostat need to be updated and simplified. And to that end, he succeeded. By the way, a Nest thermostat should be the closing gift you give your buyers. They will remember your for it. And when friends and family ask your buyers, “what’s that cool thing on your wall?”,  your buyers will say, “my agent gave me that” Priceless!!

  • Greg Saunders

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/jc-penney-first-quarter-2012_n_1520753.html

  • AgentGenius

    think long term strategy.

  • http://www.homesbygen.com/ Genevieve Concannon

    Correct…the idea is that this is just a launch pad for a different direction of JCP. Apple isn’t a guarantee of success- but certainly a nice platform for this company to take note from. The simplification is what most modern Americans are looking for right now- in everything for their lifestyle. Johnson and his team are currently achieving that for their brand and I want for people to think about how they can simplify things for themselves. The folks who haven’t been to JCP in a few years are taking a second look and liking the new facade.

  • Roland Estrada

     @Greg Saunders  I saw those reports. The goal was not just to keep old customers but to attract new ones. JCP was not going to turn the tide right away and their current direction makes sense. There current sales strategy I think helps them get a better grasp in inventory management . Take RIM for example. They are sitting on roughly 1Billion dollars in unsold inventory. That’s a huge headache. 

  • TheRetailDoctor

    You have to be kidding me! “Successfully rehabbed an old brand?” This is a very flawed execution of this makeover by Ron Johnson. As I wrote last week, “Do You Need a J.C. Penney Drug Intervention?” http://bit.ly/N0BCtd  after addicting their customers to coupons for generations and then going cold turkey … what were they thinking? Now they’re back peddaling to add more Friday promotions.
     
    J.C. Penney stakeholders needed to be involved in all of this and a thoughtful regionalized trial of the “great makeover” before whole-scale upending of a brand. Now that they have cut jobs, commissions, and apparently their resolve, how much better off are they?

    • http://www.homesbygen.com/ Genevieve Concannon

       @TheRetailDoctor Thanks so much for your comments! You make a good point about the coupon clipping; however, the 500 coupon deals in a year, which got quite confusing for the staff to follow may be something to run with here. Only time will tell…

  • Roland Estrada

     @TheRetailDoctor I’m going to actually bookmark this page and put in a calendar event for a year from now to come back and remark I was right. The rebrand will work. JCP will make up the customer loss with new customers that may not have shopped the brand before. Coupon clippers are not the only game in town. That is a fact. 
     
    As for the shareholders, They don’t seem to have helped much in previous years. Part of cost cutting sometimes involves cutting jobs. It isn’t pretty but that’s the way it is. Lastly, in situations like this you need a leader with a singular vision that everyone else follows. If they don’t like it, get out! 

    • TheRetailDoctor

       @Roland Estrada  @TheRetailDoctor You do that. The loyal have been torched over these changes and the backlash building. Singular vision is shakey to those outside the silo. Have a nice day.

      • Roland Estrada

         @TheRetailDoctor No problem. I like a nice healthy debate. And if I’m wrong, I’ll come back and admit it. Here’s to a great year everywhere. We could all use it. 

      • mg76206

        I’m in the Silos and was brought in after the “old timers” were let go. You should change your user name to delusion 2.

    • courtneychelene

       @Roland Estrada  @TheRetailDoctor  Everyone IS getting out- mostly the customers.  It seems you are just as delusional as the author of the article.

      • http://www.homesbygen.com/ Genevieve Concannon

         @courtneychelene  @Roland Estrada  @TheRetailDoctor Thanks, Courtney. Super nice.

  • courtneychelene

    I just wanted to ask the writer of this article- are you delusional?  Do you stick your head in the sand and not watch the news?  Clearly, you did NO research when you wrote this article.  jcpenney’s sales have taken a nosedive…right off a cliff.  The strategy is NOT working, and as an employee there, I know it.  Maybe you like it more because it’s more “glamorous” and “pretty”, but the rest of America does not agree.  In addition, having less stock is not “streamlining”, and neither is cutting out essential managers’ jobs.  You just used pretty terms to describe a very ugly thing.  Stock shelves are empty because there is NO ONE there to stock them.  Departments are a mess because the managers of those departments were fired, and there is no one there to plan the sets.  The catalog and customer service departments have been eliminated, leaving cashiers with little-to-no knowledge of these matters to handle everything.  The stores in general are a mess.  It has not worked in the slightest, not even a little bit.  What a joke of an article.

    • http://www.homesbygen.com/ Genevieve Concannon

       @courtneychelene I actually spoke with multiple that I know who do work there- they don’t necessarily like the way that the changes are going- because no one likes change, especially when they have worked there for 20+ years and they see other staff leave. That is tough. That is always tough no matter what industry you are in. I have seen layoffs first hand and it is frightening. Of course, then I read the reviews from the quarterly notes and understand these things take time… People are looking for simplicity and streamlining in marketing these days. That is all this article is saying. Each store is different. Thanks for your notes- delusional. No. Hopeful for them, yes.

      • mg76206

        Have you been writing about or working in this industry. Delusional is a word that describes this writers ideas perfectly. Did JCP contract you to write this article?

  • http://freetraffictip.com Tinu

    In the short term, the rebrand may be problematic. But Is this the first quarter since they were completely on the new system? I’ve shopped JCP 6 times in as many months, seeing the previous incarnation as too low class. (Where I have no problem shopping at Target, but have almost a physical sickness if I have to go into Walmart, lol). Will have to take a look at the numbers myself — even if the change was too late to prevent or delay a once looming death, at least they went down fighting.

  • agbenn

    @Tinu:disqus One thing has become universal lately at Pennys and that is hearing “omg that’s so cute” their new lines for Jrs and petites are improving dramatically, and I base this observation on my 15yo and others in our company. I think they’re on the right track, just think they they drop the JC and go with Penny’s

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