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J. C. Penny Executive Summary

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Since its beginnings as a one-room store appealing to working class families, J. C. Penny has had many ups and downs, high corporate management turnover, and company restructuring. JCP went public just before the Great Depression and despite this, the company prospered and reached sales exceeding $3B about 10 years after the Great Depression. The stores were constantly changing with consumer trends as shown by the launch of its catalog service and customer credit cards. Led by high-profile executives, the restructuring efforts fared well for the company’s sales, however, high turnover of these managers proved challenging and there was little sense of unity or identity within the company. After these years of restructuring, the stores where …show more content…

C. Penny has its set of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and strengths (Figure 2). Some of its strengths include its long history within the industry, making it a well-recognized brand with over 1,094 department store locations throughout the US as of 2/3/2013. This prime real estate throughout the country promotes brand visibility to its target market. Despite these strengths, the company has many big weaknesses. CEO Ron Johnson, implemented a new pricing strategy after Q3 2011 saw a sales decline compared to Q3 2010 and earnings loss of 4.8% and $143 M, respectively. This pricing strategy got rid of promotions and instead kept prices constant throughout the seasons. These “everyday, regular prices” did not work well with their customers who were primarily lower- and middle-class families. Though the intention and logic behind the new strategy was good, management failed to remember that customers like shopping for deals. Sales and promotions act as incentives and marketing that encourage customers to go to the store. This resulted in a loss of its core customer base and a further sign that the company had lost its identity. The high turnover of executives and management added to customer confusion as each altered the company’s business strategy (Figure

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