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JC Penney Will Continue to Stink

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And this is the sad story of why JC Penney did not manage to become a more respectable, classier place and will remain a poor-quality joint for the dowdy crowd:

Johnson tried nixing sale events in favor of everyday low prices, and almost immediately found resistance from shoppers accustomed to Penney’s couponing and discounting culture. He boldly revised the company’s advertising, eschewing value propositions in favor of sparsely elegant and stylish displays that confused customers because they didn’t show prices.

Investors watched in horror as Penney’s stock price plummeted more than 50%.

What’s with the coupon-obsessed weirdos, seriously? Do they have no understanding of simple arithmetic?

7 responses to “JC Penney Will Continue to Stink”

  1. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    BURN. In all seriousness, the money in business right now is either catering to coupon obsessed, penny pincing customers or people who have a lot of money to spend. In other words, Marshalls’ or Nordstrom’s.

    Take this article aboutProctor & Gamble, which sells household products.

    Or this article about strong luxury sales

    Now both articles are from 2011, but to me, it doesn’t feel like much has changed since then.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Exactly! And it’s the same in the food industry. One should either be very very rich to eat healthy or resign oneself to the hormone-filled, genetically modified crap.

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      1. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        That’s a result of big agriculture subsidizing (especially meat).

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  2. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    I actually liked it when Penney’s tried to be a little more upscale and elegant, with the low prices. I can’t do the coupon things — that requires that I spend valuable time cutting stuff out of papers and then trying to match them up with things I might not want. Coupons are basically a scam — retailers mark up the price based on them, and it’s always brand stuff. But Americans are generally stupid when it comes to participating in their own economy, and think they’re getting a bargain when in fact they’re just wasting time and money.

    I did used to use grocery store coupons, but that was when I subsisted on unhealthy stuff like boxed macaroni and cheese. Now that I try to avoid pre-packaged food as much as possible, I don’t use them. Stores do occasionally offer general purchase coupons, but you usually have to spend $25 or $30 dollars at least, and I rarely spend that much at the store because I do small, frequent shopping trips, instead of the family-style buy-everything-you-need-at-once thing.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      “Coupons are basically a scam — retailers mark up the price based on them, and it’s always brand stuff. ”

      – Exactly! I tried to understand how they work because everybody always uses them and makes me feel like a spoiled brat for not doing so. But I realized that the only way of using them is to buy a lot of low-quality stuff that I really don’t need. Nobody ever offers any coupons on stuff I actually want to buy in the quantity I want to buy it.

      ” I do small, frequent shopping trips”

      – This is the best and the healthiest kind of shopping. Unfortunately, it is barred to me because of my lack of driving license, but it is definitely the best way to go.

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      1. Andrea Harris Avatar
        Andrea Harris

        I had no car for years… I was lucky, though, because I usually lived in walking distance from a grocery store. Since I lived alone I had no choice but to go to the store often, because I just couldn’t carry too much stuff — I even bought one of those wheeled carts, but there is still a limit to what I can drag home in one of those. Even though I have a car now, I still have the habit of doing nearly-daily food shopping. I just find it easier.

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  3. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    Fuck coupons!

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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