After a terrible year with disappointing holiday sales figures and a share price that is fifty percent of its value a year ago, JCPenney has now reversed its decision to have one price without sales or coupons. It has announced that it will re-introduce sales pricing and promotions. However, the decline in the company's fortune has meant it is reneging on its promise to implement RFID tags for all the items sold at JCPenney by February 2013. It also means that it will not implement the plan to have all stores fitted with the necessary hardware and software to read the RFID tags and send data to improve supply chain and inventory visibility.By backing off the RFID implementation plan it also reduces JCPenney's ability to allow customers to self-checkout. Cash register transactions cost retailers ten percent of their capital outlay each year and some are keen to remove that expense. JCPenney have indicated that they will launch a smaller RFID implementation on certain lines, such as footwear, fashion jewelry, and men and women's denim. Plans for a roll-out to the company's entire inventory have yet to be decided.
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JCPenney is a bankruptcy waiting to happen. The CEO got it all wrong trying to make one price all year round, that’s not the way consumers have been taught. It would take more than JCPenney to change that. So no wonder they haven’t got the resources to implement their RFID plan. It’s a good plan, but will cost millions that they don’t have. Even if they RFID tag some clothes, do they even have the servers and readers to check the tags, or is it just for show…????
JCPenney isn’t a top retailer anymore and will probably go the same way as Mervyns and other low level retailers. I imagine it will get purchased by Kohls or one of those types of companies.
I am not sure how JCPenney is going to get out of the mess they are in. RFID is very important to their inventory tracking and loss prevention. Obviously they don’t have enough cash on hand to implement those changes, so not long before another name is missing from the high street.
Who shops at JCPenney, the store near us closed and the next closest store is always empty. I don’t think having RFID tags is going to make a lot of difference.
JCPenney is advertising like crazy but it must realise that it is on a losing battle. The RFID implementation failure is another example of JCPenny’s decline.