Dockers, Skinny Jeans and Everything in Between - What happened to JC Penney?

The recent news about the demise of JC Penney's CEO, Ron Johnson, has really captured my attention.    
JC Penney was a staple in my childhood. I have fond memories of shopping with my mom and sister for every milestone life event at the store - the back to school shopping pilgrimage, the matching easter outfits, new decor for the house, our family portraits.  Everything significant seemed to have a road that lead through JC Penney for one reason or another.  And probably the biggest impression I have of the retailer is the catalog.  I can still smell that giant catalog, feel those thin glossy pages, and see those stylish images of women in their perfectly coordinating Worthington suits. The most anticipated event in my childhood was the special toy catalog.

 I vividly remember pouring over every page with my sister at our kitchen table very carefully making my selections for Santa Claus to bring.  The retailer was also my employer in high school.  I further experienced the brand as a cashier in the mens jeans department.  Although my tenure was short, I experienced the culture of the company through the training program and my co-workers.  There was always the mystique of that polished sales associate in the suit working on commission to push those St. John's Bay products to men (and the women that shopped for their men). It was a role that felt unattainable to me at that point in my life.  As I grew up I migrated away from the store.  Once I was on my own the JC Penney brand seemed no longer relevant to me.  I had always associated it with "older" people. I was fresh, young, and hip!  I shopped at Express!

Well maybe it's because I'm "older" now or that there is a store within a mile from my new house, I've recently just re-discovered the retailer. I was pleasantly surprised at my experience in the store.  The clothes were trendy, the store was clean and well organized, and Sephora was located in the store.  The icing on the cake was the free wifi prominently advertised in the store.  Nostalgia kicked in as I purchased my sons Easter suits there this year and took them for their annual portraits.

From my perspective everything seemed to be headed in the right direction for the retailer, so what went wrong?  I've been reading as much as I can about the situation and have taken away 3 key themes to what happened:

1) changing too much too fast
2) ignoring important factors in the economy - the rising price of cotton to make clothing & it's impact to profit margins
3) forgetting the bread & butter customer to focus on a new target profile

While personally I was thrilled with the changes at JC Penney, I came back to the store by chance.  Their loyal customer was the baby boomer generation who had a specific level of comfort and set of expectations for the brand.  It must have been a shock to the system to see the Mango brand get more floor space than Worthington.  It's the equivalent of taking your parents to H&M or American Apparel to find an outfit.  The pricing model has also been subject to a lot of scrutiny.  Many say it was confusing.  More fashionable clothing with similar quality to other retailers at a much cheaper price.  I'll take it.  But again, I wasn't accustomed to the previous pricing strategy as their loyal customers were.  They were expecting a Sunday sales circular  promoting  door buster specials.  It wasn't clear that the price on the tag was actually a really low price already

Had Mr. Johnson introduced the changes in phases and taken the loyal crowd on a journey instead of splashing cold water in their face I think we'd be talking about a very different story about the retailer today.

As always, interested in your thoughts on the developing story.

-Kelly

Internet Retailer Mobile Marketing & Commerce Forum Debrief

Internet retailer debrief from kmanthey

What would you tell your 25 year-old self?

My career is working with emerging technologies, my passion is proving that women can do anything they put their mind to. Whether your mission is to be at home raising the kids full-time, working full-time, starting your own business, or some combination of all of these things,  conquering the world takes a solid support system. I have been fortunate throughout my career to have found and attached myself to some pretty powerful mentors.  They have helped me through career transitions, life changes, self doubt, and kicked me in the pants when I needed it most. As an executive in a fast growing mobile technology firm I now find myself in the position of influencing others, which is a huge responsibility.  I have started a group specifically for the women in my company to provide a source of mentorship, education, and support as they too travel professional and personal roads that I have traveled.  These are amazing women at all stages in their life.  I am sharing my experiences and lessons learned but I'd like to enlist the wisdom from my powerhouse female network and share some of your perspectives with the group.   My question is simple - based on what you know now, what career & life advice would you give your 25 year old self?  I'd ask that you respond with 3 pieces of advice that I can share with the women at Solstice Mobile. You can add your thoughts in the blog comments below.  I will be consolidating responses and presenting it at our March 21st meeting. In exchange for your time & feedback, I'd also be happy to share a copy of the consolidated responses with you.

Thank you for your time and for helping me make a difference.

-Kelly
kmanthey@solstice-mobile.com

Another Great QR Code Use

I haven't seen stunning execution of a QR code campaign so I like to point out good uses when I do see them. Here's one I recently encountered at Chicago Midway Airport. They use the QR code to solve the age old problem of forgetting where you parked.

Dear Southwest Airlines....

Why did I have to print a paper boarding pass to checkin at the ticket counter? I use your app, just let me use a QR code from my app.

Why am I still carrying that paper boarding pass to the the gate? Let me scan a QR code from your app at the gate.

Thank you for the birthday drink coupons, it was so thoughtful. But don't give me more paper to keep track of. I have 2 kids that love mail & I just moved so maybe you don't have my new address. Why not just give me coupons in the app you know I downloaded & use? Better yet, give me drink passes in my passbook. My southwest card should be in passbook too.

How about sending me a push notification when it's nearing boarding time? I don't always find a seat at the gate, I'm usually looking for a plug for my iPhone.

Thanks for listening Southwest. Your competition are doing some of these things already so it's time to catch up. If you want more advice or need help building your mobile features, just call me. I know some great people.

Sincerely,
Kelly Manthey

The QR Code Mystery..... Solved!

I have finally encountered a really useful & practical placement for a QR code. Final results reported instantly! Where have you encountered serendipity with a QR code?

Don't Let Android Fragmentation Get You Down

If you have decided to build an Android app the task of deciding which OS version to support and which devices to support can be daunting.  Here are some tips to help you sort through the sea of variables that exist and help you focus on what really matters.

Understand OS Adoption Rates:
First, check the stats for Android OS adoption. There is a great Android dashboard that gives the top OS version hitting the Google play store for that 14-day period.   At the time of this blog, the Gingerbread 2.3.3 version has a little over 60% of the Android market share.

Understand the Device Market:

A recent study done by OpenSignalMaps did a great job of visualizing the Android device market fragmentation.  This information can quickly help narrow the devices to tailor your development and testing efforts.

Samsung and HTC are big players but the market share division gets ugly quickly.

Unfortunately, knowing the device maker is only half the battle.  The models and features of each model can vary greatly.  Getting down to the model level will help further refine your efforts.

Get the Right Testing Tools:

Purchasing physical devices to physically test your app on is ideal. But it gets costly and can be difficult to scale. To get breadth of testing, consider enlisting the support of testing tools and services such as DeviceAnywhere or Perfecto Mobile.  These services offer enterprise scale access to thousands of devices and OS versions.  This affords the ability to quickly test out how a feature performs and trouble shoot specific user issues. 

Capture App User Feedback:

The app store ratings is not where you want to first surface any issues with your app. To keep negative user reviews at bay, consider adding an in-app feedback mechanism.  This provides your users the opportunity to give candid feedback during the in-app experience and keeps the negative reviews out of the public eye.  Tools like OpinonLab give the customer a voice and help feed your product backlog as well as identify trends across user experience. 

Reassess Everything Quarterly:

As with anything in the mobile space, things change quickly.  Use the tools and information out there to  reassess where the Android market is and where you should be focused.

What are the strategies your company is using to keep pace with the demands of the Android market?