Discount, discount ………

Back in June of last year I was reading the New York Times - I do read this daily as they have quirky news and some great business stories which are slightly off beat and their technology business covers small start up’s (some nationals & trade magazines over here could take note of that bit as technology companies  or online sites can grow very quickly ) and I saw Ron Johnson the brains behind the amazing retail experience of the Apple Stores had been poached by JC Penney the US department store – two things struck me first the US is deeper in to this recession than we are and they are definitely feeling a bigger double dip on this recession and they have also lost retail iconic businesses like we have and the department store model has been affected there and the second thought was are retailers now going to look outside traditional retail CEO’s for inspiration to get back on track ….

Well Mr Johnson has arrived at JC Penney after doing his gardening leave from Apple and has put out his plan for the future – none of it is ground breaking it’s actually going back to basics and a massive dose of common sense – something which is lacking at the moment everywhere I have noticed.

Sadly his plan went down like a dose of medicine with the investors and the share sank while he did his presentation to shareholders – my view on this is they should suck it up and get over themselves- I would love to see one of them come from behind their desk or descend from their ivory tower and work the floor …………………… exactly!

Johnson’s strategy for the fourth-largest U.S. department store chain -- including fewer promotions (meaning sales and discounting) , boutiques-within-a- store and hiring talk-show host Ellen Degeneres as a spokeswoman

The main raft of the plan is simplicity and integrating some of the ideas and the simplicity of his Apple retail stores – this is the man who brought clean clear stream lined looks to retailing the Genius Bar etc ……

One theme: making shopping simpler. Johnson complained yesterday that J.C. Penney stores had too many items and sales events. The chain has 400 brands and plans eventually to reduce that to 100, each with its own store-in-store- I think this is the same in a few department stores in the UK – they look like crowded bazaars not stores – you can’t see the product or the offer for the clutter.

J.C. Penney also will eliminate such events as Fourth of July sales, which totalled about 600 last year, and create lower opening price points. For example, a t-shirt with an initial price of $14 typically ended on sale for about $6, Johnson said. As of Feb. 1, that shirt will be offered for $7 from the get-go- so let up and down discounting – just a clear price strategy which the consumer understands.

The company will advertise monthly sales around a theme, such as all back-to-school items reduced in August. The goal is to increase store visits per customer from about four a year to once a month, and that could triple sales. The chain will also change its store layout to emulate Apple. At Apple stores, there is an area dedicated to products and one focused on owners of those products that offer services, such as the Genius Bar. J.C. Penney will follow suit by throwing out a department store signature: the jewellery and cosmetics counters at the centre of the first floor. Instead, the stores will feature what Johnson called a “town square” offering entertainment and services not directly related to moving merchandise- to me this is going back to old school retailing bringing some “theatre “ back to the shop floor and giving the customer a reason to come in and see what’s going on

Johnson plans to give the J.C. Penney brand a quirkier sense of hummer- that’s where DeGeneres comes in. The chain plans to add more exclusive fashion brands, including a line from Nanette Lepore. It’s no coincidence that Michael Francis, the former chief marketing officer of Target, is Johnson’s new merchandising and marketing chief- if you look how Target have been capturing headlines with their designer tie in like Missoni – we have a friend who is normally rational but bought loads of stuff just because it was Missoni and even contemplated buying the bike (she doesn’t cycle and she lives opposite Central Park in a huge apartment – she is so not a cyclist)

So I hope that JC Penney board have the balls to let Mr Johnson do his magic and that his sales climb and the customer comes back and everyone else follows suit and retailing becomes fun again ….. I love it when retailers go their own way and stop copying their neighbour especially in the area of discounting .....