JCPenney: Big Changes Announced Today

JCPenney is revamping their sales strategy and says it is dropping all prices at least 40%. This will replace sales. There will now be "Every Day" low pricing, "Monthly Value" discounts, and "Best Price" during the first and third Friday of each month. It sounds like they will lose a large segment of shoppers who only buy when things are deeply discounted.

You can read about it here.
Here are the main points:
-- Sale prices become everyday prices. The company will use sales data from last year to slash prices on all erchandise at least 40 percent or lower than the previous year's prices. So, a woman's St. John's Bay blouse regularly priced at $14.99 could have the "Every Day" price of $7.

-- Fewer sales. The retailer will pick items to go on sale each month for a "Monthly Value." For instance, in February, it might be jewelry for Valentine's Day and in December it could be Christmas decorations. Items that don't sell well would go on clearance and be tagged "Best Price," signaling to customers that's the cheapest price.

-- New tags. The retailer used to pile stickers on price tags to indicate each time an item was marked down. But now each time an item gets a new price, it gets a new tag too. A red tag indicates an "Every Day" price, a white tag a "Monthly Value" and a blue tag a "Best Price."

-- Simpler pricing. Penney will use whole figures when pricing items. In other words, you won't see jeans with a price tag of $19.99, but rather $19 or $20.

-- New advertising. There will be an ad that shows shoppers screaming "No" to discounts as they look in their mailboxes, a pile of coupons and big sales signs. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will be the new spokeswoman for the chain. And a 96-page colorful catalog that highlights "Monthly Value" items will be mailed each month to 14 million customers, along with other promotional efforts