The customer base is white middle class, middle aged, Americans whose incomes are declining due to globalization, real but unreported food and energy inflation, and increasing unemployment or underemployment. Plus the demographic wave is reducing rapidly their economic and political importance.
New management is trying unsuccessfully to reposition the store to attract new customers and is alienating its core customers with the new image and pricing strategy. Kohls, Target, Goodwill Stores, local consignment shops, and Walmart are embracing the traditional JCP customer seeking good value. New management is learning that once their core customer finds better options they don’t come back.
JCP has experienced several new turnaround CEO’s over the past 20 years. Each tried to modernize the image and product assortment to attract new customers. In the process of bringing in new merchandisers, buyers, and product development people to chase the new customers they exited the long term employees who understood how to serve the core customer. Now enough institutional knowledge has been lost that another CEO isn’t going to help. JCP will join Montgomery Wards, Woolworth’s, Circuit City and other formerly great retailers in the dustbin of history. The invisible hand of capitalism is at work.
When leadership of an organization begins to focus on new constituencies to the exclusion of its loyal core base the organization almost always loses momentum, vitality and appeal. It is rare when a new strategy delivers new customers more rapidly than it alienates the base. The rules of the retail marketplace apply also to the marketplace of ideas as the Republican establishment seems destined to learn. One truism in business — it is always easier to sell more to your existing customers than to find, attract, and sell new ones.
From your mouth, to the RNC’s ears.
Sears will be joining them in the dustbin soon after, I'm afraid. I went to the store near me here in north Texas last week, looking for something in the hardware department - only to find that two-thirds of the ceiling lighting fixtures were shut off. This was during business hours, and the entire first floor was like a cave. I asked a cashier about the lights and got only a downcast expression and a shrug in response.
Despite some seasonal displays - Christmas decorations and such - there was no sign of staffing-up for holiday sales. If anything, there are even fewer employees than last summer.
This was not a store that Sears listed a planned closure when that list came out some months ago.
“When leadership of an organization begins to focus on new constituencies to the exclusion of its loyal core base the organization almost always loses momentum, vitality and appeal. It is rare when a new strategy delivers new customers more rapidly than it alienates the base.”
Gee, ya think that the Republican party could learn as much, in the wake of last week? :)
“When leadership of an organization begins to focus on new constituencies to the exclusion of its loyal core base the organization almost always loses momentum, vitality and appeal. It is rare when a new strategy delivers new customers more rapidly than it alienates the base.”
Gosh, sounds like you could be describing Microsoft’s doomed Windows 8 strategy.