New JCP catalog and pricing

[penn19]

Actually, JCP and Kohls both put Nike on sale, including shoes, quite often. I would always buy on sale plus a coupon. Now JCP will not have sales or coupons...

Correct, but they wouldn't be a part of a typical " deep discount" sale at Penneys. And certain styles would be excluded from coupons as noted in the fine print. I buy Nike shorts there for boys and they were normally $25 on sale for $19.99. But unless they were clearanced, they didn't go much lower than that. You could use the coupons on those though.

I'm keeping an open mind. I just want to know I'm getting a good price for whatever I'm buying without having to deal with remembering which days of the week coupons are good for.

 

[HsvTeacher]

I had a $15 off $15 coupon, so my DH and I went to JCP tonight. He was able to get two Adidas shirts for $8 each and a pair of Adidas shorts for $20.

Not too bad, but for us, the verdict's still out!

 

[North of Mouse]

I haven't noticed any changes in our JCP stores in this area yet. Went this past week-end and they had tons of clearance racks with $3-$10 on the ends of them. I wasn't looking for much, and wasn't in the mood to browse so didn't even buy anything. There was lots of kids things too. Don't know about their Spring-Summer stuff as didn't look. I have been getting lots of $10 coupons the last several months, also some $10 off $25 ones, but don't do a lot of shopping there. I go to TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Ross's a lot - seem to do much better. Sometimes with a 30% discount plus clearance & sales, I go to Kohls, otherwise I don't bother with them as their 50% off prices are really reg. prices elsewhere.

 

[Sagginit]

Penneys has agreements with manufacturers including Nike, that they can't run that much of a discount. So maybe before they were $80 and on sale for $70 now the price will be $75. Not to say they couldn't be marked down on clearance before.

Companies can't keep running sales on top of sales on top of sales. Not a good way to stay in business!

obviously this is a business decision so i am guessing the screaming people in the ads was also the way the employees felt . sales take companies lots of time. time to decide how much they have, how much they need to sell, what price will people buy at, time to move the merchandise, time to mark tickets/signs, time to update the registers, time to manually fix the register/deal with complaints. i love a good sale but i know on the flip side companies hit a point where it is just not profitable, people only stopping in to get stuff practically free are not the consumers that keep you ticking (and yes i am one of those people at some stores so no judgement there). ikea works on a model like this, decent quality, a commitment to keep prices low, and only run a handful of promotions. same with trader joes, no fancy sales or crazy couponing. works for them so maybe jcpenny is trying that route. i have gotten some really good deals on home goods from pennies so i will have to wait and see if it is worth it to keep shopping there.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't use coupons but I don't scream if I see some. Weird advertising.

However I do plan to check out JCP once this kicks in. I haven't shopping there in many years but I'm interested in the Friday sales.

 

[cornflake]

obviously this is a business decision so i am guessing the screaming people in the ads was also the way the employees felt . sales take companies lots of time. time to decide how much they have, how much they need to sell, what price will people buy at, time to move the merchandise, time to mark tickets/signs, time to update the registers, time to manually fix the register/deal with complaints. i love a good sale but i know on the flip side companies hit a point where it is just not profitable, people only stopping in to get stuff practically free are not the consumers that keep you ticking (and yes i am one of those people at some stores so no judgement there). ikea works on a model like this, decent quality, a commitment to keep prices low, and only run a handful of promotions. same with trader joes, no fancy sales or crazy couponing. works for them so maybe jcpenny is trying that route. i have gotten some really good deals on home goods from pennies so i will have to wait and see if it is worth it to keep shopping there.

Yes, but Trader Joe's actually has low prices.

If JC Penney doesn't (there isn't one here so I dunno from) with their new strategy, people won't buy the stuff.

Though I think Kohl's is expensive (and mostly utter crap), so I can't quite figure why people shop there, except that a perpetual 40% off sign on every single thing in the store makes people think stuff is cheap even if it's not, heh.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

I mean i am (was) a big shopper at JCP, but i dont have their charge card....I am mostly a clearance shopper..that means when after the winter / summer when they pink stickers were $9.97,.$5.97, $2.97.
..I bought lots and lots of clothing...My hubby and i have a ministry, nothing official mind you,our own $$ and we provide new clothes to families on a regular basis.
They.... JCP have also let go a number of older workers who have been there for years...
I feel the price looks like something out of Wal mart and there will be no prices listed above the merchandise...
No more coupons except for the survey coupon u can use every 30 days. Today i shopped at Macys and TJMaxx!!

 

[NotUrsula]

In my market, Macy's tried this exact same strategy ("everyday low pricing" and no coupons) about a year ago -- it failed MISERABLY. Within 3 months they started issuing coupons again. Shoppers in some markets are coupon-averse, and in other markets people love them; one-size fits all marketing does NOT work for national department stores.

I predict that Penneys will quickly re-adopt coupons, but that you will see lasting changes in HOW they will issue them. I suspect that you won't see nearly as many printed ones coming in the mail; they will probably start sending them as text-messaged QR codes or as printable email coupons instead; that is a lot less expensive for them. Also, you will probably see less signage in stores; the layoffs are going to get rid of most of those people whose job was largely changing signage.

As for Kohl's, I don't usually buy their house-brand clothing items any longer; I found that the fabrics tended to have serious shrinkage and colorfastness issues. I will still buy name-brands there, but not the less-expensive house brands. Penneys' house brands tend to be much better quality, I find.

 

[moonpie85]

I worked for the corporate office for a few years (although I left 7 years ago and things do change) I can tell you certain companies would not let us cut their prices without their prior approval. It was very common that we would have to disqualify Nike and NFL from our promo sales. Not always. but more often than not they were not included. We of course would have Nike on sale often but at a set price they agreed to and not under the blanket promo.

This could be the issue you are having. Brands like Arizona, St Johns, and Worthington are much more likely to be included in this blanket promo because JCP controls those prices.

 

[burnurcomputer]

I bought most of my childrens clothing form JCP, but I will not be doing that any longer. The pricing policy is beyond anything that makes sense. I hope they only do this for a fwe months before they change back. If not, they have lost a dedicated customer.

 

[zoemurr]

the point was that they were going to lower prices so they didn't "need" coupons. Everything I checked today is the same price as yesterday.

This monthly pricing would just make me check the website less often.

And that new logo? Boring...

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

Just my 2 cents:
1) they are trying to be the Walmart of department stores where the price marked is the price. No guessing when you go to pay.
2) it will help spread out the business and not be just a Wednesday and Saturday store to shop at
3) the deep clearance price shopper are not the target consumer that any store wants to count on for staying in business
4) personally, I like to go shopping on the spur of the moment sometimes and like the fact I should not need to worry if I am missing a better price because I may have missed taking a coupon with me. I almost always have a list of things I need and normally only get to shop when I find some spare time and often I can't plan a shopping trip. This pricing thing could be good for someone like me. If the base prices are good like they are implying.

 

[minushka72]

I was in our local JCP just last week and bought from the new clearance stuff. Got DS 4 pairs of pants, 2 sweatshirts, 2 longsleeve t-shirts and 1 pr of winter pjs for $51.00. So 4 outfits and a pr of pjs. I think that is a good deal! I liked the price points for the clearance racks. Made it much easier to approximate what I was spending. Everything was neat and organized for clearance so that was great.

The regular prices are pretty high for little kids stuff so I never really shopped there for kids clothes. I really don't want to spend $42 for a pair of khakis for a 5 year old who outgrows them in a few months! I usually shop at Sears or Target for the kids clothes.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I also shop sales, clearance and coupons. If I need something and go there and they are too expensive then I won't buy anything. A few months we will know what will happen. IF sales don't go up, then I am sure coupons or sales will start again. It is all about their bottom line. Time will tell.

 

[ekmom]

I'm a fairly frequent Penney's shopper. I was there on Sunday and only shopped for myself but I thought the new prices were great. I picked up two sweaters for myself that were $14 each. I would have expected to pay $25 - $30 for them under their old prices. Like one of the previous posters, I shop when it's convenient for me and I hated having to deal with the coupons all the time. I felt like I was drowning in them. We'll see how the prices hold going forward, but so far I'm pleased.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I went to JCP this morning and I have to say I wasn't impressed by the every day prices. I guess I consider myself a smart shopper so I always waited for their sales and combined them with coupons.

Their every day price on boys PJs is now $15--I can get Pjs at The Disney Store for $13 not on sale! I used to be able to get their PJs on sale for around $11 plus stack a $10 off $25 coupon on top of my total purchase.

Infant/toddler top & bottom separates I used to get on sale for 2 for $10 plus stack coupons on top...now they are $6 each.

Socks & underwear packs started at $9...can get cheaper at Target.

I think this new pricing strategy will be liked by people who were not strategic shoppers before. They need something, they go and get it. Now the prices will be more clear. But for the more strategic shoppers, who knew when the best sales were and only shopped with a coupon on top, the prices will be higher and therefore not as attractive.

 

[juliebug]

Those were SO over priced, IMO, before (socks/undies). How much were they with the new prices?

our store still had the same prices on them and were soo overpriced its crazy!

 

[mrsklamc]

Commercials are so annoying I'm not even going to check the pricing. Just like I might consider a kia if not for the stupid hip hop hamsters.

 

[book_junkie]

If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear of any other places with a plus or big mens dept.

No help if you want a brick and mortar store, but if you're OK with shopping online, have you tried King Size Direct? My dad and brother run tall and big, (6'4" and over) and it's been a life saver for my mom. She's found winter coats that actually fit, pants that hold up, shoes, etc.

Won't help with your girls, but might give it a try for your hubbie. And they have specials/codes/coupons.

 

[vaDisneyGuy]

I had been looking at a patio set from JCP for a few weeks, I was going to order it before there prices changed because I thought it would be a much higher price. I was wrong with the new pricing it is cheaper than when it was on sale and with my 10%.