J.C. Penney Apologizes For Former Apple Exec's Moves

What is sad... is people are idiots.. They would rather have 50% off of a $100 item then a $50 regular price item.

That was the biggest downfall, assuming people are actually smart enough to know the difference between "sale" price and regular price when they are the same.

It amazes me... people want our kids to pass math tests, grammar tests... but some how we could care less about critical thinking or common sense.
 
IMO, flat pricing is not quite that simple. That $50 item under a flat pricing scheme may have been $25 for some and $75 for others. It was the thrill of the hunt that brought the JC Penny patrons who wanted shopping entertainment. But if I really needed a belt, I'd accept the higher price due to my impatience. Johnson's assumption that a young and economically stable crowd with disposable income was a bit misplaced considering the "brand's" inertia. JC Penny just didn't have the time to make the switch to an upscale store and I'm not sure the number of customers were there to support it.
Honestly, I didn't like Johnson's JC Penny, but I'm back to being a loyal customer with Johnson out. The ad seems brutally honest and I appreciate the gesture. The only plus of economic depression is the remembrance of who should be served in a capitalistic market- the customer.
I worked at Sears years ago when they were successful. My boss made sure that his customers left happy. He would tell us that deducting $100 on a $500 item is likely to bring 5 more customers when that person told their family and friends about the great experience they had at Sears. He also knew that an angry customer that left the store would dissuade 10 more potential customers from ever walking in our doors. Today, Sears doesn't follow that perceptive (under Kmart) and they are paying for it. I expect them to fail shortly.
Take a look at Newegg. Years ago we wouldn't have thought to go anywhere else, but today poor customer service may have cost them.
This stuff is pretty simple to see with businesses, but what about evaluating the effectiveness of the government? IMO, Congress should take notes, because when you really lose the customer base of a government, money becomes the least of your worries. The stakes are higher and the costs are far greater and deeper.
 
anything to put Apple in a title. Im not talking about you Steve , but the article.
 
dandirk said:
What is sad... is people are idiots.. They would rather have 50% off of a $100 item then a $50 regular price item.

That was the biggest downfall, assuming people are actually smart enough to know the difference between "sale" price and regular price when they are the same.

It amazes me... people want our kids to pass math tests, grammar tests... but some how we could care less about critical thinking or common sense.
Click to expand...

The difference is you don't always know the price of things, but you do know when you're getting a % off. Like, I bought 32GB of RAM for $99 a few months ago. Now you see '40% off $150' for 32GB of RAM. Now, if you weren't looking for RAM a few months ago you might have no idea that it was $99 then (normal price). All you can see now is that it's $250 before the 'sale' and $150 with a sale price.

Likewise, you might have no idea that soandso item is regularly $50 - you just know that you have a 50% off coupon on a $100 item. JCPenny is mostly clothing too where prices can wildly vary all the time. You can get a shirt that covers you for $10 at Walmart the same as some shirt at Saks for $300. There is no 'this is what all shirts pants coats' should cost.
 
dandirk said:
What is sad... is people are idiots.. They would rather have 50% off of a $100 item then a $50 regular price item.

That was the biggest downfall, assuming people are actually smart enough to know the difference between "sale" price and regular price when they are the same.

It amazes me... people want our kids to pass math tests, grammar tests... but some how we could care less about critical thinking or common sense.
Click to expand...

My guess is you have not set foot in a Penny's store in years or you would not be spewing that nonsense.

Johnson hurt Penny's probably fatally he did not understand the market or his customers, his arrogance and hubris were astoundingly stupid.
 
dandirk said:
What is sad... is people are idiots.. They would rather have 50% off of a $100 item then a $50 regular price item.

That was the biggest downfall, assuming people are actually smart enough to know the difference between "sale" price and regular price when they are the same.

It amazes me... people want our kids to pass math tests, grammar tests... but some how we could care less about critical thinking or common sense.
Click to expand...

That's not exactly true. My mom works at JC Penny. What people really wanted was their every day low price and coupons.

Since they went back, customers keep telling her that they liked the old cheap stuff.

As for their change in image, she told me that it seemed like they were just alienating their old (aged) customers and not bringing in any new ones.
 
dandirk said:
It amazes me... people want our kids to pass math tests, grammar tests... but some how we could care less about critical thinking or common sense.
Click to expand...

But if we could care less, then it follows that we do care to some degree, no? ;)

Just bustin' your balls. And putting a little critical reading/thinking to work...but mostly just ball busting, though.
 
Max Mike said:
My guess is you have not set foot in a Penny's store in years or you would not be spewing that nonsense.

Johnson hurt Penny's probably fatally he did not understand the market or his customers, his arrogance and hubris were astoundingly stupid.
Click to expand...

Actually I buy pretty much all my clothes there (not saying much though)...

No matter when I went it was the same experiences and pretty much the same results... There was ALWAYS a major "sale" and my price/product ratio was pretty similar.

If there are always sales... then how is it any different then just pricing stuff for what you are going to sell it for?

Comments that people don't "shop" and have no basis of value and thus trust "sales" is EXACTLY the point I am making. Having sales to use the word sales is a trick used to get people to guy like sheep.

I had a friend who worked at a stained glass lamp store at mall of america. He would laugh that they ALWAYS had a 50% off sale and would just double the sticker price. They would then every week switch out signs saying the sale was going to end on day blah blah blah... only to get a new end date on that day.


Now the way the new pricing was advertised was that JCPenny was just going to price stuff at their constant sale prices and do away with the coupons/fake sales etc Now if they were truly not doing this then sure, horrible move... but if they did and people rejected them because they want the work "sale" and a red tag on the item, then they are the ones who failed.
 
If the prices were the same in the end then it is certainly true that he did not understand his customers.

Image is not as much a concern to people who's primary objective by going to JCPenny's is to save money.
 
dandirk said:
Actually I buy pretty much all my clothes there (not saying much though)...

No matter when I went it was the same experiences and pretty much the same results... There was ALWAYS a major "sale" and my price/product ratio was pretty similar.

If there are always sales... then how is it any different then just pricing stuff for what you are going to sell it for?

Comments that people don't "shop" and have no basis of value and thus trust "sales" is EXACTLY the point I am making. Having sales to use the word sales is a trick used to get people to guy like sheep.

I had a friend who worked at a stained glass lamp store at mall of america. He would laugh that they ALWAYS had a 50% off sale and would just double the sticker price. They would then every week switch out signs saying the sale was going to end on day blah blah blah... only to get a new end date on that day.


Now the way the new pricing was advertised was that JCPenny was just going to price stuff at their constant sale prices and do away with the coupons/fake sales etc Now if they were truly not doing this then sure, horrible move... but if they did and people rejected them because they want the work "sale" and a red tag on the item, then they are the ones who failed.
Click to expand...

This is just like Kohls and is why I hate that store with passion. I cant stand fake sales, where everything in the store is somehow 45-50% off, all....of....the.....time.

The last time I went into a JCP was recently and the time before that was a long time ago. When I went recently, somehow just the overall tone of the store was so off putting that I didnt even bother to look at any of the merchandise and just decided to move on and go somewhere else.
 
Whoever decided it was a good idea to make some whiney ass commercial like that should be fired.

Just because some dumb ass didn't learn the "new coke" lesson.
 
now that Nick Wooster is over at JCP it might actually be worth going back to peep what they have
 
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, we didn't like that last guy.:eek:

We're fucking idiots...............:eek: We're sorry you didn't like what we did.

Please come back.............everything's on sale...........again.
 
During this time Penny also hired Ellen DeGeneres and had ads featuring same sex couples. I suspect a sizable portion of their customer base would be put off by this and with how polarized everything is nowadays once that happens they dont come back no matter how many silly coupons sales you start back up.
 
i saw that ad for the first time yesterday and that was the first thing I said to my wife that JCP is on their death bed with this ad campaign. Last ditch effort.
 
Can somebody enlighten me...what exactly did JCP do wrong the last few years?
 
JC Penny? I can't come see you. Your store went out of business like 20 years ago when the hurricane blew it away and you never came back.
 
I had no clue JC Penny did a makeover. Not that I'm a big JC Penny fan, but I do watch too much TV and not once do I remember a JC Penny's ad that communicated a new clothing approach.

I guess if you alienate your old customers and do nothing noteworthy to make new customers consider you, its going to fail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top