I. Articles In 2006, JC Penney attempted to make a comeback and live up to the great Nordstrom and Macy’s. Known as the retailer to “frumpy middle America”, JC Penney is attempting to once again work with a cosmetics company in hopes of bringing in a more affluent client base. Bringing in Sephora to the company means focusing on a new demographic—one that will hopefully refocus the goals of the company. Citation: Birchall, Jonathan. "Sephora aims to boost JC Penney RETAILING." Financial Times 12 Apr. 2006: 22. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 27 Sept. 2015. New York Times elaborates on the positive turnaround that JC Penney has seen in the last quarter. After nine years, Sephora, along with men’s clothing and fine jewelry, and pushing the company toward a possible profit. Although the company is still losing money, the loss has narrowed since the last quarter and the company is looking up. Citation: Press, The Associated. "J.C. Penney Delivers …show more content…
Micro Environmental Variables Sephora is all about its customer’s experience. They want people to be taken care of as soon as they walk in the store and they want the customer to feel pampered. Sephora has made many strides in the beauty community trying to open every door of the possible beauty market—whether that is a rewards program, hair salon, makeup tutorial, etc. However, the company has still had a few set backs in terms of its internal struggles. Against its major competitor: Ulta, Sephora has taken another approach to the beauty world. While Sephora has done a good job of making their store feel elite, Ulta has succeeded in creating a store of elite makeup as well as providing drug store brands for their customers. Sephora’s products generally range from $20 and up, while most of Ulta’s products range from $10 and up (the cost being brought down by their drug store brands). Although the experience at Ulta feels less special than that of Sephora, the lower prices may attract the same