J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE:JCP)’s Chief Executive Officer, Jill Soltau is putting in significant efforts to reinvigorate the sales. According to the CEO, the new store Hurst in Texas, which is located between Fort Worth and Dallas, is a customer-centric lab to drive growth.
New services at Hurst retail lab
The new store and retail lab, which sits on an area of 208,000 Sq. Ft., offer services such as a selfie studio, a fitness studio, a barbershop, and a video game lounge. J C Penney also revives its old logo.
The company is taking steps to revive sales. Its sales have dropped every quarter throughout 2018. J C Penny’s shared traded at $1 for most of the last year. Its shares are on the brink of getting delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
Sales dropped to $11.7 billion
The sales of J C Penney have dropped from $20 billion in 2007 to $11.7 billion in 2018 despite taking several revival measures since the last decade. Much of the sales decline is attributed to its ill attempt to reinvent the brand as a hipper cooler retailer in 2012 and less focused on discounted offerings. In this attempt, the company accrued a lot of debt and left with no cash to invest for future growth. Its long term debt is $3.6 billion in the last quarter.
The previous Chief Executive Officer of J C Penney, Marvin Ellison, brought the sales of appliances back nearly after 33 years. It is a disastrous move for the company. He also attempted several new initiatives like a reorganization of the display of merchandise, renovated hair salons, and tidying the stores. However, all of his efforts are failed to repair the brand. He left the company in 2018.
Given the declining sales, J C Penney has downsized the staff and added new products and new features in e-commerce. Poorly managed merchandise and inventory made several of its stores are looking empty.
The new CEO is taking several initiatives like categorizing women apparel: casual, sports, and office into groups at its Hurst store. J C Penney plans to implement the same measures at its other stores if it is successful. Soltau added new talent to fix the declining sales. The company plans to add more changes to appeal to the customers this Christmas season.
