Boston, MA 10/10/2013 (wallstreetpr) – J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) recently reported that the trends of sales improved in September but also noted that, turning around the retailer is still in the early stages. Last month, the sales fell 4% which is an improvement over the double digit declines in the month of August and the second quarter.
The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Myron E. “Mike” Ullman said that over the last 6 months, the company has made significant strides and is now seeing optimistic signs in the important areas of the business, despite the fact that it continues to be a difficult environment for retailers and consumers in general. However, he acknowledged that the company, Penney has “still not reached the end stages of turnaround” and also challenges suggested by Penney remains, such as fixing its home department, weaker profitability because of discounting and improving traffic at mall-based stores.
In spite of all this, investors were encouraged by the sales improvement. The shares, which have fallen 61% in the year 2013 and are trading at lows, now, jumped 6.2% premarket to $8.19. The company is trying to recover a year and a half under Ron Johnson, the former Chief Executive. He cancelled some discounts and without first testing the moves, removed some popular house brands. This act of him plunged the company into the red by driving away the shoppers.
In its turnaround efforts, the company is making a solid progress with the reconnection of its core customer with the department store, during promotional events. Mr. Ullman said that reconnection of company with its customers and getting them into their stores is of utmost importance. He has brought back discounts and is now re-stocking the brands that were removed by Mr. Johnson. These house brands were the ones, retailer was known for and it includes apparel labels of women like St. John’s Bay and Worthington.
