J.C. Penney Company, Inc.
Description
The Firm JCPennys was started in 1902 by James Cash Penney in Wyoming as a store for mining and farming families to purchase work clothes (jeans, fabric, etc.). James Penney founded the store with the Golden Rule in mind, treat others in the way that you want to be treated and up until 1913, the stores were named as such. The company expanded from the West Coast out to the East Coast and still focused on providing working class families clothing and accessories. JCPennys specializes in affordable family clothing, in style inexpensive jewelry, and home furnishings/goods. It is in the Department Store industry with over 1,000 stores nationwide.
The Industry and the Competitors As the economy has been taking a recent downturn, families are forced to make more frugal financial decisions when it comes to apparel and accessories. Therefore, it is of no surprise that the competition among reasonably priced clothing and department stores is pretty fierce. JCPenny’s top competitors include Kohl’s, Macys, and Sears and Roebuck and Co. (the last two are privately traded) (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=JCP+Competitors). All of JCPenny’s direct competition focuses on the apparel needs of women, men, children, and teenagers. However, unlike most of their
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On their website, JCPenny has a moving panel of pictures on their home page with the words “Dear__” insert America, Trendsetters, Starry-Eyed, Sexy, etc. for the various different types of consumer products, but tending to focus on women (http://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/index.jsp). Because of their frequent sales and lower prices, JCPennys does not immediately appeal to families of upper income levels. Families with higher disposable incomes might prefer department stores such as