J.C. Penney E-Commerce Continues To Rebound In Fourth Quarter
By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA
There is still work ahead for the retailer to improve its online presence, but consumers are still turning to jcp.com
J.C. Penney reported its highly anticipated fourth quarter on Wednesday. While its revenue came in lower than what analysts were expecting, the company saw same-store sales increase by 2 percent. Revenue stood at $3.78 billion, which is down from the 3.88 billion reported last year. Analysts had been expected revenue to hit $3.85 billion in the quarter.
However, the company remains positive about the past year. CEO Mike Ullman says, “J.C. Penney achieved what it set out to do on a number of important fronts in 2013. We stabilized our business, both financially and operationally, and restored our process disciplines, promotions, inventory levels and focus on the customer.” Ullman says that J.C. Penney is on course for 2014, aided by the success of its top-performing home, men’s apparel, women’s accessories, and Sephora departments throughout the fourth quarter.
The company also continued to see growth in e-commerce, reporting an increase of 26 percent to $381 million in the fourth quarter. While this increase is certainly a positive for the company in the midst of its turnaround, there is still a lot of room to grow in e-commerce, Reuters says. The company was one of the first large retailers to begin offering e-commerce in 1995. JCP went on to hit $1.52 billion in online sales, only to fall by a third in 2012 as Ron Johnson turned his attentions away from the website. Currently, the company sees 8 percent of sales come from its online channel, compared to the 15 percent (including catalog sales) it saw a decade ago. Following Mike Ullman’s return to the CEO position, the company began to implement its omni-channel strategy. “I believe the future of retail is omni-channel, and we are committed to leading our sector in omni-channel functionality,” Ullman says. “We realigned merchandising and marketing teams for .com to support our omni-channel approach to the business. We still have more work to do, but we are pleased with how quickly the business came around with just these few strategic adjustments.”
Ullman not only brought back a team to study how JCP customers behave online, but he recently hired former Saks CIO Michael Rodgers to oversee the integration of stores and e-commerce. Rodgers will also be focusing on rebuilding online customer loyalty programs. While the technology supporting the website was updated in recent years, there are still plenty of areas the retailer can improve in order to better compete against big e-commerce stars Macy’s and Nordstrom. For instance, the website currently lacks lists of top-selling or top-rated items and could improve in terms of customer service, one consulting firm told Reuters. However, while there is always room for improvement, the company’s site still sees a large amount of traffic, and following this quarter, is clearly a popular place for shoppers to find what they’re looking for from JCP.
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