Word: jcpenney
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...this company be saved? Why not? Retailing is full of 360° turnarounds. Wall Street darling Abercrombie & Fitch, for example, was once an afterthought unit of Limited Brands but spun itself off and repositioned itself as the hottest label for the teen crowd. Even once dowdy JCPenney reinvigorated itself by hiring a smart merchandiser, Vanessa Castagna, as executive vice president and giving her the freedom to remake the brand. "She helped make Penney's cool, and the Gap needs to be cool," says Chen...
Similarly opportunistic, some Hong Kong--based manufacturers are now remaking themselves by providing supply-chain-management to big customers. TAL Apparel, which makes 1 out of every 7 dress shirts sold in the U.S. at its factories in Asia and North America, nimbly adjusts production for major customers like JCPenney based on weekly sales results. In a practice linked to the "fast fashion" trend, retailers can send orders to TAL each week. TAL then ships out the product in four days or less--emergency orders can be rushed through in a mere four hours. TAL sorts the goods into boxes...
...from the other's business model. For example, 22 of the 25 stores that Penney opened in the third quarter were situated in very Kohl's-like locales, a different approach for the mall-based Penney. Myron (Mike) Ullman, the former Macy's honcho who is now CEO of JCPenney, bristles at the comparison. "Let me point out that James Cash Penney opened his first store in 1902, off-mall. This is not new for us," he says. "Kohl's is a great competitor. But this isn't their turf. We had to put stores where people are in order...
...revival of Penney and the continued success of Kohl's can be traced to one thing: women are simply finding things in these stores that they want to buy. And it has certainly helped that Wal-Mart botched an attempt to upgrade the fashion quotient in its apparel offerings. "JCPenney and Kohl's finally got the merchandise right," says Nicholson. "It's hipper, and it's not boring anymore...
...just walked through Macy's and didn't find anything, but I've been here for about an hour already," she said, her arms full of clothes, on a recent afternoon at the new Jersey City store. "I always shop at Kohl's. And so do my friends." For JCPenney and Kohl's, comments like those must sound as joyful as jingle bells...