JCPenney Lost Me as a Customer Today

[mommyrosa2]

I for one, miss the buy one get one sales they used to have. But not having them is not why I stopped shopping JCP. The selection and the quality went down, along with their prices. Consumers are not dumb. They know a lower price along with lower quality does not equal a good buy.

This is the exact reason I stopped shopping at JCP. Before their new fair & square pricing, our JCP had a nice variety of women's clothes and the quality was decent. Once they switched, the store departments became bare and the clothes were junk. I did want to also add that many of their items were not priced "fair & square" either and I'll use the brand Levi's as an example. I have been buying women's Levi's for over 20 years and I know what a fair bottomline price is for a pair no matter where I'm buying them. They hiked the price for their Levi's a good $10-15/pair which made them way over priced in comparison to their competitors. So the deal breaker for me was their lack of variety/quality & their pricing was "off" on many of the items that I buy repeatedly.

 

[tlenzendorf]

I wouldn't have minded the fair and square pricing if they hadn't changed the whole store. When I have to go to 4 different sections to compare dress pants and then 3 to find a top-annoying! And then to top it off they hardly had any merchandise in the store. If I wanted a boutique shopping experience I'd go to a boutique. Please get more product and put all the pants back in one section and shirts in another and maybe I will come back.

 

[Colleen27]

I saw both sides of the new pricing idea - some items I bought went up pretty significantly while others dropped a bit.

But where JCP has lost me is in their new concept for their stores. The selection sucks, especially at the "outlier" sizes (I have a size 0 daughter and I'm at that in-between place at the highest end of regular/lowest of plus size range). When I go jean shopping I don't want to be directed to the web site to find items in my size. If I planned to buy without trying anything on, I'd have saved myself the trip and shopped online to begin with! But hey, they have a huge Sephora store-within-a-store and lots of branded displays that show off the styles that you can never seem to find on the racks...

 

[disykat]

I take it back about the tuxes. I had recommended Penny's to a friend for their tux price and she told me she got an "unadvertised sale" of 50% off just last night. I went in this morning and got nowhere, but went back again a few hours later and got the 50% off price plus also used my 20% off coupon.

I just bought a tux for $145 so I'm back in their fan club.

I gather everything's pretty messed up right now with the changing of prices and sales signs aren't updated etc. I'd ask them to check prices on everything!

I hope I can continue to have luck with them because they've so often been an easy way to shop for everyone in one store.

 

[maxiesmom]

Moderators...please close this thread.

Why?

 

[nunzia]

There's the problem! If the majority of JCP shoppers are waiting for a clearanced pair of $2.00 shorts... But expect "quality" and selection in the clearance bin, the store will never survive! How will they pay mall rent, employees, merchandisers by selling $2.00 shorts... Of good quality!

They can't. Now I love a good clearance dig myself. I work at Target, so I crawl through the clearance racks weekly. But when it comes to wooing customers, JCP, Kohls, Target, etc... Are not wooing the $2.00 clearance bin shoppers. They need to woo people who will come in and pay a higher price. Have you ever needed a blue long sleeved shirt for tomorrow? Get a new dress for a funeral? A new pair of Khakis for work? Not everyone has the time, inclination, desire, to dig clearance bins. Sometimes you need to know where "I can get some good docker khakis"

And if they are finding that the majority of shoppers have a clearance price point... They can't raise prices so they have to lower quality.

Pretty much you have to pick good or cheap. If you get both, consider it lucky. But no store can sustain selling good for cheap forever.

I realize all that and worked in retail for 11 years and saw it all. Of course they have to have the higher paying customers..the ones who don't mind paying inflated prices...I saw this all the time at the entertainment store I worked at..I always thought why on earth would someone pay double for a box of candy than the WalGreens next door was charging? People do and good thing the world has both. You say you can't have both quality ad cheap, and that's the dig..they charge like it's quality but it is NOT..not really..a step up from Wal Mart, but still basically poorly made crap from China pretending to be better made. That was my point about Kohls and to me Penneys is the same way..thin material that doesn't hold it's shape, etc. I will occasionally pay a higher price if I really want something but overall Penneys and Kohl's for that matter created their own monsters by playing the game the way they have. The $2.00 pants..again maybe a bit better than the $10 WalMart ones but still never in a million years worth the $26 original price or the $22 'sale' price. I am willing to pay much more for quality made products but they are hard to find.

 

[dzneelvr]

I only shop at JCP now when I get a $10 coupon in the mail. Their selection is sparse and I often wonder if corporate forgets the stores in the smaller markets to give attention to the large markets. The staff is friendly enough, but doesn't seem overly attentive either. JCP strategy was a hopeless failure and the new CEO will have to be somewhat of a miracleworker to bring customer loyalty back to the fold.

 

[Astylla]

I worked for JCP a few years back..from Nov. 2009 when I started as seasonal when I moved to CA to June 2011. I saw such drastic changes in that short time along with several co workers that had been there for 5 , 10 or even 20 years. It wasn't a positive change even then..I saw the writing on the wall and they even encouraged us to deceive our customers - i.e. - don't mention a sales or coupon unless they have it.
I ignored these threats and did the right thing for my customers always and there was a reason I had such a loyal customer base and had constant 5's on my customer service surveys.

I was transferred from the Home store to the main store in the mall to the women's/juniors area because their service was so bad..
In a month our scores raised from a dismal 30% to 89%..and I was often complimented by my peers and supervisors. When I went for a supervisor position and was snubbed over someone that was with us less than a month just because he had prior outside management experience..I knew this was no good.

In the coming weeks and months..things got worse and worse. Things like repricing items , and not lower.but higher and brands started disappearing..and quality was noticeably lower. I got out just in time..as fellow co workers and supervisors just a mere months later were laid off.

There is a big reason they are failing hard..the only ones I would be sad for are those hard working individuals that have no choice at store level as they try to survive.