Brick-and-mortar retailers have been taking a beating from shoppers using their stores as mere showrooms for Amazon and other e-commerce sites. But ahead of Christmas shopping season, some experts suggest that a smartphone-equipped shopper should be seen not as a problem, but as an opportunity.
Nearly a year after taking over as CEO of J.C. Penney, Ron Johnson seems all too aware that his image as a retailing miracle worker has been seriously tarnished. But he's not worried about the backward thinking naysayers -- and he's still determined to prove the skeptics wrong.
Forget the fiasco that killing sales and coupons has turned out to be for J.C. Penney: CEO Ron Johnson's other radical change -- transforming the stodgy department store from a sea of clothing racks into an emporium of 100 hip, branded shops -- just might be its saving grace.
Kohl's CEO Kevin Mansell thinks he knows the holiday-season recipe that can pull his retail chain out of the slump it has been in lately. The key ingredients: rock bottom prices and more exclusive designer collections.
Six months after J.C. Penney Co. launched a bold new pricing plan, customers still aren't buying it. The department store chain reported a bigger-than-expected loss and plummeting sales during the second quarter.
Hot weather and clearance sales drew Americans into stores in July, giving retailers solid sales gains and helping offset worries about jobs and the economy. Three-quarters of retailers reporting results said they beat expectations.
Sometimes, companies that were once leaders fall hopelessly behind. They may struggle on for years, but their chances to engineer turnarounds have passed. 24/7 Wall St. has found nine of these companies -- names you know well, but that will never be great again.
Shoppers who weren't impressed with J.C. Penney's radical new pricing strategy -- eliminating most sales and all coupons -- have seen the retailer reverse course in recent months. Now it's bringing back clearance sales, too. So where does this leave Ron Johnson's retail reinvention plan?
The Apple-ization of J.C. Penney continues. The department store unveiled its new shop concept Monday, showing off -- among other things -- a 1,500-square-foot men's Levi's store with an exclusive "denim bar" that evokes Apple's fabled Genius Bar.
J.C. Penney may have backpedaled on eliminating sales, but it's still trying to redefine retail, and its next big change may feel equally radical: The chain will get rid of all of its cash registers, checkout counters and cashiers by 2014, says CEO Ron Johnson.
There's no question that what Apple has accomplished in the past 15 years is truly remarkable. But even more remarkable is where Apple was when Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997 -- struggling to even survive.
J.C. Penney president Michael Francis, the junior partner in the executive duo leading the chain's radical makeover, resigned Monday, after just eight months on the job. Will "fair and square pricing" follow him out the door?
J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson has a bold plan to revive the sluggish retailer, but based on its latest earnings report, the plan isn't working. However, it's way too early in this marathon metamorphosis to count Penney's out. Here's why:
Investors figured that new J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson's "Fair and Square" pricing strategy wouldn't be a hit right away, but no one expected the recently remodeled department store chain would be this earnings season's biggest disaster.
It'll be a good Easter for sellers of brightly colored outfits and chocolate bunnies: Americans are expected to shell out 11% more for the holiday this year.