JCPenney to shut down catalog outlets

Source: DM News

Retailer JCPenney said January 24 that it will close five department stores and all 19 legacy catalog outlets in the next two years. The moves are part of the company's shift in strategy to invest more in its online offerings.

The retailer will also consolidate all call center operations into three facilities, closing two others. It will also shut down an underperforming home store and furniture outlet.

JCPenney is moving resources from physical stores and catalogs to online initiatives. Last September, the company said it will discontinue its catalog business in favor of “look books,” which refer customers to the company's e-commerce website. The brand also launched a Facebook e-commerce store last December.

“As we've seen customers moving more and more online, we're really following the customer,” said Tim Lyons, spokesperson for JCPenney. “As our chairman said, ‘we are not leaving the catalog business, our customers are.' These changes are in response to that.”



Read more: http://www.dmnews.com/jcpenney-to-shut-down-catalog-outlets/article/194890/

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I hope the new hedge fund manager additions to the board of directors do not destroy this old American company.

"JCPenney’s commitment to serving its customers with style, quality and smart prices has led the Company through many transformations over the years as society and shopping habits change. Furthermore, through more than 100 years of history, the Company has stayed true to its Golden Rule beginnings, with a continued commitment to care for the communities where it does business in and operate in an ethical and responsible manner." http://www.jcpenney.net/about/jcp/jcphistory/default.aspx

There is one of the legacy catalog outlets not too far from me. I will admit the store is pretty junky and in a mall that is going through an exceptionally long & painful slow death, but those are still jobs that people need. I know that the few times I have been there the place has seemed to be busy enough to support itself. The have some occasional good deals that I find interesting.

I'm sure everybody has a mall near them that is at death's door.

The one to which I am referring is Jamestown Mall in Florissant (St. Louis County) MO. We have lost the large NW Plaza Mall with the last retailer (a shoe repair) closing in 2010. On the south side of town Crestwood Plaza was knocked off (it is now mostly a theater group / art center complex with a few gifty type stores) by a revamp of a nearby mall for the upscale crowd. Part of it is changing demographics of their areas (aging populations in aging areas who just don't need as much stuff) , part the recession, part changing shopping patterns away from malls to strip centers & online, part of it just bad decisions on the part of both mall managers & retailers. Something of a perfect storm, I suppose.

the costs for design, layout, printing and delivery of a catalog are huge and this makes sense.

the days of physical catalogs are numbered.

the internet strikes again!

I buy from online retailers, then they bombard me with catalogs for years to come. I never even look at them. When I'm ready to shop, I go to their website.

Besides getting yourself on the Direct Marketing Association's Do Not Mail list, you can phone companies and ask them to remove your name from their list.

Every time I get an unwanted catalog, I phone the company. When I order stuff I ask, do you sell or rent your customers' names and if so do not do that with mine. Eternal vigilance has reduced my junk mail considerably and helped the environment a little.

you should have to opt-in, rather than opt-out, imho.

Most of the others either dropped them long ago or are completely out of business.

Sign of the times.

It was a bit chaotic inside, but it was always packed with people! They had to have been doing amazing business.

Even in the online age, I'm still a bricks n' mortar guy.

helped them at all.

using the Penney's catalog when the costs of shipping and handling and taxes became too high and when the store did not have the same item in stock to try on or see for quality. It is the same with other catalogs.
What looks good on a tall skinny model @ 18 does not look so good on a short plumb grandmother.
If catalogs were a way to find articles of interest at a store they might still be useful but as a primary way to shop they are expensive and unreliable. Pre-shopping I would like and it would save time and energy.

Such sweatshop clothing, poorly made, shoddy materials, all jammed in together--practically unshoppable. I guess if you're buying their crap on line you don't get actually feel how cheap it is until you get it in the mail.

Julie