J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney Co. plans to reverse its three-year sales decline and increase revenue by $5 billion by 2014, management said at the retailer's annual analyst and investor meeting. Penney projects annual sales will reach $23 billion in five years from a number of initiatives that include continuing to add exclusive apparel brands such as Liz Claiborne and MNG Mango, mending its home business and updating its jewelry selection. It plans to add 75 Sephora shops a year in its existing stores to reach 600 by 2015. It's introducing high fashion into shoe and accessories departments, taking confusion out of promotional pricing and launching a mobile-ready website within 18 months. It's also building on a loyalty rewards program that had 5 million customers signed up in the first year and a potential draw from 16 million Penney credit card holders.

Creating a seamless cross-channel experience is likely your goal. But your customers may not be experiencing that, at least according to a March study from Forrester Research: US Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014.

Cross-channel retail integration can mean many different things to many different people. It can refer to integrating a brand across a variety of channels, such as retail store, website and catalog, for example, which Brent Niemuth discusses in "The Integrated Shopper," beginning on page 13. Niemuth explains that for consumers to really connect with a brand, they must have the same brand experience online, in-store or with its catalog.

Victoria's Secret Online, Offline Coupons Draw Shoppers; Target Catalog Goes Back to School

Crutcheze.com Leans on Search 
for Growth; OfficeMax Targets Women With New Catalogs, Campaign; Sears, Penney 
Ramp Up Diverse, Seasonal Campaigns.

This year’s ACCM, held two weeks ago in New Orleans, was the 23rd consecutive one I’ve attended. And like many of the sad few who showed up to this year’s, it left me longing for the good ole days.

Lane Bryant: The women’s plus-size specialty apparel retailer has launched a new fashion retail catalog. The catalog was mailed to 3 million existing customers beginning in March. Lane Bryant, which isn’t connected with the former Lane Bryant catalog that Redcats USA (and before that, Brylane) used to operate, also unveiled a new toll-free number to handle orders and customer service inquiries, joining its retail stores and e-commerce site. The new catalog conveys a fashion-inspired look with a new attitude and bright colors.

Mired in a “sea of sameness,” multichannel retailer J.C. Penney is challenged to differentiate itself from its competitors. By creating emotional connections with consumers through easy and enjoyable shopping experiences — no matter the channel — it believes it can do just that. At last month's National Retail Federation Convention in New York, Clarence Kelley, executive vice president of planning and allocation at J.C. Penney, outlined four tactics the company uses to better serve its customers.

Fresh on the heels of a report from the Department of Commerce that December retail sales dropped 2.7 percent, more than double the 1.2 percent decline Wall Street analysts predicted, comes more bad news for multichannel retailers: 2009 doesn't figure to be any better. Such was the sentiment of a panel of retail experts during a session at this month's National Retail Federation Convention & Expo in New York.

Finding a nonstruggling multichannel retailer these days isn’t easy, but finding some that seem to know how to get through the recession is very possible. And during a session at the recent National Retail Federation Convention & Expo in New York ...