JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson finally FIRED!

[Liberty Belle]

I haven't really shopped at JCP for myself in years. They have a good selection of clothes for babies and toddlers, a big gap until girls hit the tween years, then squat until the fifty something market. I am speaking specifically for the female market, I have no idea what kind of clothing they have for men.

I posted this in another thread already but I'll repeat it here. My mom and I went shopping there last night to look for a few things for DD7 to take to Disney World in a couple weeks. I was utterly disgusted by the selection, I wouldn't let her wear 75% of it. There were midriff baring tops, short shorts, T shirts so thin you could see through them, a completely see through top that, to be fair, did have a camisole liner under it but still, and a ruffled one shoulder top that looked like something a grown woman would wear salsa dancing or to a club. I'm sorry but young girls should not be wearing anything so thin you can see through it or clothes that belong in night clubs and bars. If JCP would take many of those designs and simply expand them to fit a twenty or thirty year old woman I think they would do a lot more business.

I did manage to find a few plain tshirts for myself but other than that the selection was pretty slim unless I wanted to wear work out clothes or dress like a grandma this summer.

That's so funny. I wonder if each store is that different. When I went through about a year ago, everything look fashionable and young. Five years ago it all looked grandma or boring.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Why would anyone happy this man lost his job is beyond me

Well I wouldn't say I'm happy about it. However, I'm not going to shed a tear over someone that got all the money he got for running JCP into the ground. I do feel sad for all the folks that aren't getting paid big bucks that lost their jobs or are going to lose their jobs because of his failure.

 

[WebmasterKathy]

The man is absolutely arrogant. He demonstrated his disdain for JCPenney associates and customers repeatedly.

He destroyed the careers of many people, and put the pensions of many more in jeopardy.

There is much joy in North Texas now that he can stop using the JCP company jet to flit in for a few days each week. He never even bothered to relocate here from California. Too bad the board of directors let him stay as long as they did.

 

[penn19]

I agree. I think the clothes are much cuter than they were, say, five years ago. I was really surprised when I walked into JCP about a year ago and saw so many fashionable things.

I think my local store looks great now. It looks like a real department store. Bright, clean and not cluttered. The Joe Fresh line of clothes are pretty nice. Some of it is basic, but nice colors.

 

[maxiesmom]

I really liked his plans to go to mobile checkout. Whether or not we like it, that will be out future. More and more retailers are exploring this as an option. It makes it easier for the customer and puts more people on the sales floor to help customers that have product questions. I am working on this project right now for the retailer I work for and you would be amazed at the number of retailers that are looking to go this route. I think JCP only flaw was they were trying to push it out too fast, but I suspect that there was a lot of pressure from the board to get mobile checkout out there ASAP.

My problem with this is that if the person helping with mobile check out is also answering customer questions, then that mobile check out will be very slow. It doesn't matter if you are moving people from behind a counter to a spot on the sales floor. Instead of being focused on ringing you out they are now expected to do that, and help guests at the same time. Plus from what I understand they will still have to go hunt down bags for your order, unless you bring in your own.

You also have to add me to the group who is very disappointed with the merchandise at JCP as of late. I used to buy my niece a ton of clothes from their Junior department. The last few times I have strolled through there was not much she would have liked. And I miss the sales they used to have.

 

[MouseketeerMMC]

Are mobile check outs the same as self check outs? If so I am not suprised that this will be the future even though I detest them and do not use them unless I am with someone who does. A lot of times I see people who have problems with it, but my main thoughts are that this is a way for the corporation to eliminate three jobs per cash register since you can have one employee look over a few of them which is the real reason why these are gaining traction. Sales go up , and expenses go down for share holders. Quite sad...

 

[RitaE]

Are mobile check outs the same as self check outs? If so I am not suprised that this will be the future even though I detest them and do not use them unless I am with someone who does. A lot of times I see people who have problems with it, but my main thoughts are that this is a way for the corporation to eliminate three jobs per cash register since you can have one employee look over a few of them which is the real reason why these are gaining traction. Sales go up , and expenses go down for share holders. Quite sad...

Kind of.

Right now as I understand it they were putting those mobile credit card readers on tablets etc and sending employees out to the floor to check out customers near the merchandise. Eventually they were supposed to add the self-checkout cash registers. There was talk of in the advanced future you would be able to register a payment method with JcPenney and do a self-checkout with your own smartphone and an App.

I'm not sure what their theft control methods were going to be. That's my biggest beef with the self-checkout lanes in grocery stores. The ones that want to measure the weight of your shopping bags against the record of what you bought just do not work well.

 

[luvmy3]

Are mobile check outs the same as self check outs? If so I am not suprised that this will be the future even though I detest them and do not use them unless I am with someone who does. A lot of times I see people who have problems with it, but my main thoughts are that this is a way for the corporation to eliminate three jobs per cash register since you can have one employee look over a few of them which is the real reason why these are gaining traction. Sales go up , and expenses go down for share holders. Quite sad...

Its not sad, I'm pretty sure JCP is a publicly traded company. Anyone can be a shareholder and since their stock plummeted over 50% in a year its probably quite a bargain.

 

[kwelch10377]

Are mobile check outs the same as self check outs? If so I am not suprised that this will be the future even though I detest them and do not use them unless I am with someone who does. A lot of times I see people who have problems with it, but my main thoughts are that this is a way for the corporation to eliminate three jobs per cash register since you can have one employee look over a few of them which is the real reason why these are gaining traction. Sales go up , and expenses go down for share holders. Quite sad...

I think it depends on the retailer, but generally no it is not like self checkout. For where I work the whole purpose is to get more associates on the sales floor greeting customers, directing towards product and having the customer work with one associate from start to finish with a sale. The intent is not to cut the job of the cashier, but to put those cashiers on the sales floor. There are many times where a cashier ends up standing up front doing nothing because there are no customers to check out, mostly because there was no one on the sales floor to help them find what they were looking for to buy something. Having mobile check out allows associates to multi task while using store labor effectively.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

My mom was talking to somebody who works at JC Penny, she was glad to see him go.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

That's so funny. I wonder if each store is that different. When I went through about a year ago, everything look fashionable and young. Five years ago it all looked grandma or boring.

I had a coworker who used to complain about there being nothing but old lady clothes while my wife had no such issues at the very same store. Turns out they were both right. "young" clothes topped out around size 8 or 10 or so, while anything larger was strictly granny stuff.

 

[glammadiva]

I was a 3rd generation JC Penney loyal customer. Bought almost all my clothes there. Then the change. Inventory went to practically nothing. The only thing I buy there are slacks for work and jeans. Only because they come short that actually fit! I JCP drove me into Macy's. Great selection, good sales. They get my money now!

 

[superme80]

I stopped shopping at Penney's when the change happened too. I shop Land's End at Sears now. Their clothes are more what I am looking for. Penney's has bad quality now. I hope they can dig themselves out of the hole that they created.

 

[Robbi]

We used to shop at JC Penny all the time for everything from clothes to furniture but I don't think I've shopped there is 4 or 5 years.

 

[Callie]

My mom use to shop so much at JCP back in the day when we were girls, and gas was cheaper to get over there. Now it's Kohls since its down the road, and the sales.

I have to admit, some of the stuff is very very well priced. I got jeans for $19, which was a deal. I also found $5 everyday shirts.

 

[maxiesmom]

I think it depends on the retailer, but generally no it is not like self checkout. For where I work the whole purpose is to get more associates on the sales floor greeting customers, directing towards product and having the customer work with one associate from start to finish with a sale. The intent is not to cut the job of the cashier, but to put those cashiers on the sales floor. There are many times where a cashier ends up standing up front doing nothing because there are no customers to check out, mostly because there was no one on the sales floor to help them find what they were looking for to buy something. Having mobile check out allows associates to multi task while using store labor effectively.

So in other words you are freeing them up to help with projects on the salesfloor, until a customer needs help. A customer who will have to hunt down the sales associate in order to get help. That doesn't sound so great to me. First I have to find the merchandise I want and now I have to go hunt down someone to check me out?

What I don't get is what a customer is supposed to do if the sales associate they find is already helping someone. Are they supposed to form some sort of line? Will the sales associate be able to page for help?

Sounds like the problem you described of having no one on the sales floor was an easy fix. Have more associates working. Don't disperse the ones you have making them hard to find.

If they would add mobile checkout to the cash registers they already have, I would be fine with that. It may be a good option at times. But pulling the current cashiers away from their stands and making it a treasure hunt to find them, so they can do other work instead of standing at the cash register? Sounds like a giant pain for the customer.