Ron Johnson's JCPenney....not good

[Rogifan]

Walked through a JCPenney store the other day and was shocked at how garbage it felt. I'd say maybe 10% of the store had the new "shop" concept. The rest of it was anything but and was a hot mess. Store was practically empty yet most of the racks and tables of clothses were a mess. And the store has these awful hanging signs contrasting JCP's price to competitor's prices. Also I've heard they're bringing back sales again.

How can JCP expect retain existing customers and attract new customers when their strategy seems to be changing every month? If Johnson really believed in his original vision he should have stuck it out and put all the focus on redesigning the stores as quickly as possible. Johnson announced his vision in January 2012. Having only 10% of stores redesigned a year later isn't cutting it.

[Plutonius]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Walked through a JCPenney store the other day and was shocked at how garbage it felt. I'd say maybe 10% of the store had the new "shop" concept. The rest of it was anything but and was a hot mess. Store was practically empty yet most of the racks and tables of clothses were a mess. And the store has these awful hanging signs contrasting JCP's price to competitor's prices. Also I've heard they're bringing back sales again.

How can JCP expect retain existing customers and attract new customers when their strategy seems to be changing every month? If Johnson really believed in his original vision he should have stuck it out and put all the focus on redesigning the stores as quickly as possible. Johnson announced his vision in January 2012. Having only 10% of stores redesigned a year later isn't cutting it.

As with any retailer, it varies by store (i.e. some are run well, some are not).

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by Plutonius

As with any retailer, it varies by store (i.e. some are run well, some are not).

Well the one I was in was complete garbage. The constant changes in strategy, pricing, marketing, etc. do nothing but confuse customers. And then you throw in store layout with 80-90% old JCP and the rest quasi-new JCP and people have no idea what JCP wants to be and who they're catering too. No wonder the stores are empty and sales are down.

[MacNut]

Have you walked into a Sears lately, much worse than JC Penney.

[Plutonius]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Well the one I was in was complete garbage. The constant changes in strategy, pricing, marketing, etc. do nothing but confuse customers. And then you throw in store layout with 80-90% old JCP and the rest quasi-new JCP and people have no idea what JCP wants to be and who they're catering too. No wonder the stores are empty and sales are down.

The local JCP store near me seems to be doing well (i.e. very full of customers).

An example of how stores vary by location is my local Walmart store. I had stopped going to Walmart since my local store was so bad. While traveling, I was forced to stop in a Walmart and was very surprised how good the store was. I thought Walmart had changed so I visited my local store again and found out it was still terrible . No matter how good or bad your store is, stores in other locations will be different.

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Originally Posted by MacNut

Have you walked into a Sears lately, much worse than JC Penney.

The same goes for Sears. I have seen the Sears stores vary, based on location (The Sears near me is also pretty bad but I have seen good Sears stores too).

[iMikeT]

What ever happens at JCPenney in the end, what's next for Ron Johnson? Back at Apple?

He was great at what he did at Apple but CEO of his own company, not so much.

[madmaxmedia]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Well the one I was in was complete garbage. The constant changes in strategy, pricing, marketing, etc. do nothing but confuse customers. And then you throw in store layout with 80-90% old JCP and the rest quasi-new JCP and people have no idea what JCP wants to be and who they're catering too. No wonder the stores are empty and sales are down.

I don't know how much of what you saw is due to constant changes in strategy, or the reality of engineering a total makeover of your retail concept.

You are right they should revamp an entire store and not sections at a time, and lots of stores at a time too. But this is probably requiring an absolutely huge amount of capital to pull off, they can only spend as they actually have the cashflow to do so.

OTOH if they had previously revamped your local store, and now were in purgatory again as they were changing it AGAIN, that would be a big problem.

[jav6454]

JCP here is very neat and the new concept is rolled out 50% of the store. It is also very full of customers.

[Demonface]

They must be making money because i'm not hearing or seeing any of the stores being shut down. I mean the JCP stores around my area.

[PatrickCocoa]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Walked through a JCPenney store the other day and was shocked at how garbage it felt. I'd say maybe 10% of the store had the new "shop" concept. The rest of it was anything but and was a hot mess.

Not that anyone's interested, but "hot mess" refers to something that is very attractive but has one or more undesirable characteristics. The typical use currently is for a woman who is physically attractive but emotionally or finanacially demanding.

Of course, in today's culture everyone is right and all must have prizes, so perhaps we're seeing the beginnings of the meaning of "hot mess" transforming from "attractive mess" to "big mess". You were here at the creation!