If Johnson had been called in as a turnaround expert, that is another kettle of fish. He was called in to make a transition to the future of retailing in a time when online sales are shifting the landscape.
Who the h$ll knows where it is going to end up.
I for one like the Amazon model. No bricks and mortar...just wire and warehouses. But it is hard to move Penny's into that model without killing its brand.
Massive hubris rarely works well in corporate settings.
I suspect ole RJ actually believed people were purchasing Jobs’ hardware because of RJ’s brilliant retail strategy.
Seems that Penney could leverage the brand ala L.L. Bean with clicks-n-bricks, if they developed a unique value proposition.
Funny, in a way, JCP was actually a predecessor to the Amazon model, as much of their sales in the past was from catalog purchases. I'd venture that prior to the '80's many people only set foot in a Penny's store to pick up or return a catalog order.
“I for one like the Amazon model. No bricks and mortar...just wire and warehouses. “
Unfortunately the financial returns on the Amazon model are extremely low. Fourth quarter 2012 (quarter ending Jan 29, 2013) Amazon’s net income was $97 million on sales of $21.3 billion, a return of less than 1/2% of sales. For first quarter 2013 Amazon projects sales of $16.6 billion and earnings of $65 million, again less than 1/2 percent of sales.
For the roughly comparable quarter (Apple’s first quarter 2013 ends December 29), Apple earned $13.1 billion on sales of $54.5 billion. A 24% return on sales.
As a shareholder I prefer the Apple economic model.